


No Power in the Verse

by Julane_Sutliff



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Dollhouse, Firefly, Supernatural
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:35:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 57
Words: 119,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21533806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julane_Sutliff/pseuds/Julane_Sutliff
Summary: Entire Whedon Verse (less Marvel) with a Supernatural Cross over. This story begins on the last episode of Buffy, continues until all casts come together to meet on a different planet where they learn how to live with themselves, Mal Reynolds, and the Alliance. This story is heavy on the Buffy pov.
Relationships: Daniel "Oz" Osbourne/Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane/Robin Wood, Kaylee Frye/Simon Tam, Kennedy/Willow Rosenberg, Malcolm Reynolds/Inara Serra, Paul Ballard/Echo, Spike/Buffy Summers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. Prologue: One

**Prologue: One**

**California 2003**

**The Hell Mouth**

‘Ease off, we’re clear….’ Faith said, as she realized they’d really made it out. She gripped the green vinyl seat in front of her tightly to keep from being flung around while Robin brought the bright yellow school bus to a screeching halt in the middle of the hi-way that led out Sunnydale, California.

The road was uncommonly deserted for this time of day.

Robin was in bad shape, but he’d managed to drive them out of the town that was collapsing into itself and put the bus in park before he passed out, his injuries suddenly getting the better of him. 

Buffy, clinging to the brake lights on the roof of the bus and through the sheer force of her will, had not been thrown from the top as it came to its full stop. As soon as it did, she vaulted off the roof and shuddered with shaky relief while she gained her footing. Hearing engines in the distance, she turned curiously and glanced around the bus to see what they would be dealing with next. 

Army trucks were hurtling toward them. 

‘Great...’ she thought absently.

They were going to only have a few moments before the trucks arrived. After that it would be a toss-up on the good news – bad news scale. Not what they needed right now. Definitely something none of them should have to be dealing with at all, especially in the wake of all that had just happened.

The power structure of the Universe had literally changed in the last 10 minutes and she… they, had been the ones to change it. It was all just a little too heavy, at present.

Dawn flung the Emergency Door at the back of the bus open. Smiling broadly, she scrambled out as relief tsunamied through her. Throwing her arms around her sister she squeezed, unconscious of the pain Buffy was in. Dawn, sick with panic while the bus had raced away without her sister on board, had swallowed the nausea that doubled when she caught sight of Buffy. Her sister was running for her life across the rooftops of Sunnydale, trying to escape the collapsing town. At the last possible moment, Buffy had launched herself into the air and aimed for the bus. When Dawn heard Buffy land on the roof a split second before driving out of the town proper, relief inserted itself where the panic had been. She’d been through it once before and didn’t ever want to live through it again. She thanked the Goddess silently that Buffy wasn’t dead and squeezed the Slayer tightly again.

‘It’s a miracle any of us are even standing here.’ Dawn thought shakily, then realized Spike and Anya weren’t with them anymore.

The sickness of grief, something she knew too well at 17, invaded the pit of her stomach to replace the fear. She clutched her sister even closer thinking, ‘Everyone leaves.' It twisted through her middle, harder this time. ‘Anya…Spike…Amanda...’ Their names whispered through her mind and she swallowed hard, willing herself not to cry.

Giles walked around the open door at the end of the bus to join the Slayer and stared in consternation at the giant gaping crater in the earth that was once Sunnydale.

‘I don’t understand…what did this?’ he sputtered. 

Buffy pulled herself from her sister's embrace, turning to look at the crater. The pain she felt from, honestly everywhere, showed itself washing over the blood smeared plains of her face. The wound in her side, the bruises all over her body, her bloody knuckles, all of it ached horribly, but was insignificant to the pain in her chest where her heart should be. ‘Like it’s been sucked out.’ She thought, foggily. ‘Spike.’ She said, answering Giles. Collecting herself, she walked toward the edge of the crater acknowledging to herself he was down there. 'With her mother and Anya and she’d left him…left them’ there. Anya’s mangled body, sliced nearly in half, lying in a pool of blood while she ran out of the building flashed in her minds eye and she mentally shook her head to clear the image while her heart whispered, 'Xander…’ Pain twisted in her chest at the thought of having to tell him what she saw. Numbly she stared at the gaping maw in the ground, while the white noise consuming all the available space in her head kept her from processing anything but her most basic thoughts. ‘I left them.’ Her guilt accused repeatedly, not even knowing how many yet. ‘They’re all down there. With my home…with him. He saved us. Those of us who are left. Not many.’ She thought, stiltedly. He saved the entire world channeling the sun through that entirely too large, gaudy, mythical champion necklace Angel brought, intending to wear himself, but she sent him home and chose Spike instead. In the eight years she was a Slayer, the most important lesson she learned was 'when it counted, he never failed her.' He used the soul, that he fought for and won back for her, to dust thousands of Vampires, including himself, in the process. He saved them all and it was only moments ago. He was there with her and now he was just… gone. 'Like mom, there one minute and gone the next.' 

Dawn hesitantly walked the few steps with Buffy to the craters edge, ‘just to look' even thought there really wasn’t anything left to look at.

Suddenly, as if the Universe needed to make its point, the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign fell morbidly into the hole. Buffy stared in bemusement at the empty space. It felt as if somehow the sign couldn’t stand to be parted from the rest of the town and might have been a bit of comic relief, if their grief were not bone crushingly acute at the moment. She knew how the sign felt. Knew it was stupid. It didn’t stop her from contemplating hurling herself in after it for a moment, but it was only a quick moment.

The rest of the Scoobies, and anyone else not mortally wounded, made their way off the bus aimlessly milling about in the middle of the deserted Hi-Way. Most were lost in their own personal trauma, raw emotion holding each one of them hostage while replaying events from the last hour. They attempted to pull themselves together while simultaneously falling apart and it was heartbreaking.

‘So, did you see?’ Xander asked Andrew, grabbing at his arm, preventing him from joining the others at the back of the bus. 

Andrew shook his head in shamefaced denial refusing to look Xander in the eye. He didn’t want to have to tell his friend what she’d done.

‘I was scared.’ he stammered, trying to make his way past Xander. ‘I’m sorry…’ he mumbled.

Xander stopped Andrew forcefully with a rough hand to the shoulder. ‘Did you see what happened?’ he demanded, insisting on an answer. ‘I mean, was she…?’ There was a thread of hope in his voice.

Pain flashed in Andrews' downcast eyes as the memory of a fierce and brave Anya barreled through his mind on its loop once again. ‘I’m standing in front of Xander spattered in her blood.' He chastised himself, weeping. The very least he could do was be worthy of it and put his friend at ease. Choking, he marshaled his courage, lifted his head, squared his shoulders, looked Xander in the eye and did his best to honor her. ‘She was incredible…’ he praised, the truth of it shining in his eyes.

Xander quietly accepted what he already knew. ‘Anya's gone.’ Pain burned, roaring through his soul, quick and violent. His lips quivered, but he choked his rage down and covered the reaction with a hollow smile for Andrew’s sake. 

‘She saved my life.’ Andrew answered, in disbelief.

Xander, squeezing Andrew’s shoulder in hollow reassurance, didn’t buckle under the weight of finally knowing and strangle Andrew where he stood. It wasn’t Andrew’s fault she was dead, but the reality was, she was gone. It was hard to be understanding. ‘Someday I will get past it.’ He promised himself, without speaking. For now the pain was fire in his guts. So, he did the best he could. ‘That’s my girl. Always doing the stupid thing.’ he said proudly, lips still trembling. Shrugging through the tears brimming in his eyes he turned away before his resolve faltered and he slugged Andrew, whose own tears were threatening to fall. He just couldn’t take Andrew’s regretful tears right now.

Andrew, nodding his acceptance, knew someday he and Xander would revisit this and whatever happened between the two of them, he knew he deserved it.

Back on the bus, Faith was doing her best to keep Robin, drifting in and out of consciousness, with her. His coffee brown skin was much too cool and slick and that was worrisome.

‘It’s not bad,’ she lied to him baldly, forcing him to focus on her. ‘You just sit here. I’ll get someone to look at it.’ she assured him, quickly turning away to find Violet.

‘Hey…’ he gasped, stopping her, struggling to speak, ‘Did we make it?’

She turned back to him and kneeling so he could see her, she put a good face on it for him. ‘We made it. We won.’ She nodded, managing a halting smile. 

Hearing the words 'we won' was all he needed. A contented smile washed briefly through the glassy dark pools of his eyes and then he was just, gone. 

Faith’s heart dropped out of her chest. ‘He’ll be back. Just wait...’ She coaxed. Staring into his charming, oftentimes fascinating face she patiently willed him to breathe. Determinedly waited several long beats. Nothing. Resignation then regret clanged hollow in the space her heart had vacated. She reached to close his soft, expressive eyes feeling the future she’d given a tentative thought or two slip through her trembling fingers. Abruptly, Robin pulled in a ragged breath startling her and relief coursed its way back into her nervous system while he took a few more breaths, forcing his body into the rhythm of staying alive.

‘Surprise,’ he gasped out once he found it and smiled at her. 

‘Thank G… thank everything.’ She breathed, knowing he was going to be okay. 'He's tired, seriously wounded, but he's back and isn't going anywhere.' she vowed.

Taking up the mantra, she repeated it a few more times willing herself to believe it.

Robin kept his focus on breathing and thought about what his mother, who he saw in the light a few moments ago, had said to him. It had been so long since he saw her and all he’d wanted to do was stay, but she refused to let him, saying, 'He hadn’t lived yet.' So, he was back and there was Faith, encouraging him to keep breathing with her sassy crooked smile. He noticed that for the first time in a long while, it reached her eyes. 

Violet arrived to check over his injuries and Faith stood, making room for her. Thoughts turning to Xander, she began making her way off the bus. Before she could clear the last step, she saw him and listened while Andrew explained that Anya was gone. Faith hurt for him. There wasn't any love lost between the two of them, but that wasn't the point. They lost a lot of people today and it was hard to accept Anya was gone too. So, they hadn’t been close, so what. She enjoyed being a witness to the relationship between Xander and the ex-demon. If those two could find love with each other, there was hope for her. She shook her head and forced the feelings away. Feelings weren’t going to do any of them any good right now. They had the rest of the day to get through and she could hear trucks in the distance. ‘Can’t be anything good…’ She thought in annoyance, 'Big hole in the ground. It won't be long until they are looking for someone to blame this on.' 

Willow watched while Andrew talked to Xander, reading the tortured expression on her oldest, dearest, bestest, friends face, knowing it wasn't good news and her heart sank. She knew what this felt like like and she hated it for him. She approached slowly as he turned away from Andrew, tearfully reaching for him. They and held each other tightly, if silently, taking extra care to be strong for each other, while refusing to break. Thankfully, the pulverizing wave of grief passed quickly over them and they were once again numb enough to get through the next few minutes. They were still in the middle of this thing. There was no time to get mired down in it now. They would cry when the time was right. Linking arms, they went to join Buffy and the others at the back of the bus next to the edge of the crater. Andrew stared after them, watching them go, silently hating himself. 

Faith, took the last step off of the bus and followed the pair to the edge of the crater, taking it in fully for the first time. ‘Holy shit…’ she thought, but said, ‘Looks like the Hell Mouth is closed for business.’ Knowing instinctively after what she just witnessed, the only thing getting them through the rest of this day without someone having a mental break, was sarcasm. In heavy, frequent doses. 

‘There’s another one in Cleveland.’ Giles informed her. 

Everyone turned and glared at him.

‘No way in hell am I moving to Cleveland.’ Faith thought.

‘Not to spoil the moment.’ Giles added sheepishly, bending to pick up a rock glinting in the sunlight. Hearing the trucks coming toward them, knowing she could as well, he was already worried about what was next. It had already been a hell of a day and it was only going to get worse from the sounds of it. That was more than just a few trucks coming toward them. He desperately wanted a cup of tea. What the next few days had in store for them, he had absolutely no idea. He tossed the rock in the hole, realizing that he didn't have any acceptable answers for ‘What's happened here?’ 

‘We saved the world’ Xander said, as if answering Giles' unspoken question and changing the subject all at the same time. It was a hurried attempt to stave off his brain destroying grief, now that he was truly getting the full view of the nothing that was left of his life. And besides that, he always set the tone when things got too heavy and things were definitely too heavy. No way was he going to let Faith step into that roll. It was literally the only thing he had left in the world.

‘We changed the world’ Willow replied, in her correcting tone, ‘I can feel them, Buffy. All over. Slayers are awakening everywhere.’ The spell she used to turn the potentials into full-fledged Slayers had been so powerful the light of the Universe had flowed through her, momentarily turning her hair pure white. It had been the most amazing experience of her life. All over the world girls who may have been called to be the Slayer were now in fact full-fledged Slayers. She really could feel all of them coming into their powers. ‘Evil, has been put on notice.’ She considered, stolidly. 

‘We will have to find them.’ Dawn said, taking her verbal cues from the others.

‘Yes.’ Willow agreed, pushing positivity as well. ‘We will.’

This pain was so much more than physical. They suffered through loss before, but it was different this time. They just lost everything. Through the smog of anguish, they didn’t fully understand what it all meant for them yet, but right now they would deal with it in the only way they knew how. Laughter and hope. Perseverance got them through each time the loss was too heavy to bear. It had brought them through Jenny and Joyce an entire year without Buffy, when their unhealing wounds lay open pouring out their grief. They each, in turn, hoped it would be enough this time, because… 'damn.' 

‘Yes, because The Mall was actually in Sunnydale so there is no hope of going there tomorrow.’ Giles teased, recalling their conversation not an hour before in the hallway of Sunnydale High. Quaking with fear, in need of a little lighthearted banter, ‘What should we do tomorrow when we are done with this little chore,’ at the time, seemed to be the perfect tension breaker.

Buffy smiled uneasily, ignoring the burning pain from the wound in her side. The sensation from the wound told her it was already healing, but the burning pain in her heart was different. She would need her family to help heal it. They would get through this with each other, just like they always did. It was going to take some time, but they would be okay. 'Someday. Maybe. The trucks are so close and the moment this bubble is shattered… Spike…’ her heart grieved, her thoughts swirled and she wished everything would slow down.

‘We destroyed The Mall? I fought on the wrong side!’ Dawn joked bravely, while she stared all the way down to the bottom of the crater. Her mother was down there she mused while listening to the silly banter go on around her. Of course, mom was in her coffin and had been for years, but none of that mattered to her peace of mind. Her mother was down there with the monsters and it was eating at her. She shook herself a little forcing away such dark thoughts with the reminder that she had to be strong… 'for Buffy.' 

‘All those shops gone.’ Xander chimed in. ‘The Gap, Starbucks, Toys R Us. Who will remember all those landmarks and tell the world about them?’

‘We have a lot of work ahead of us.’ Giles sighed, unable to pull his mind away from the approaching convoy. 

‘Can I push him in?’ Faith laughed, as she gave Giles a little shove.

‘You’ve got my vote.’ Willow laughed.

‘I just wanna sleep yo! For like a week!’ Faith forced a laugh again. 

‘I guess we all could. If we wanted to.’ Dawn offered.

‘Yeah! The First is scrunched! So, what do you think we should do, Buffy?’ Willow asked tentatively. 

Buffy numbly stared out over the nothing that used to be her home.

Faith added, ‘Yeah, you’re not the one and only chosen one anymore. How does that feel?’ 

‘Yeah, Buffy, what are we gonna do now?’ Dawn asked, her gaze still followed her sisters out over the open space before them, just now realizing they really didn’t have a home anymore. 

Buffy thought over the last several minutes. They’d been pushing through the detached hysteria brought on by the adrenaline rush of their own survival and the crushing reality that lay before them. Reaching. Trying to work themselves into a better state of mind. The atmosphere was fragile and one misstep would have each of them succumbing to the actuality, that they were staring into a giant hole in the ground that held everything that defined each and every one of them. It was all so much dust now. The smallest thing would have them, well her, screaming into the void, weeping out the incalculable pain swamping her soul.

Softly, through the timber of Dawn's voice, Buffy heard Spike’s command reverberate in the core of her body and she couldn’t help but smile for the love it brought with it. 

‘Go.’ 

The power of that love flooded through her and tears filled her already glassy eyes. 

‘She was going to live.’ 

She was going to take the Gift that he had given her and make him proud. 

She was going to LIVE.

The trucks coming toward them were not going to change that.


	2. Two

**Two**

**California 2017**

Once upon a time Riley Finn loved Buffy Summers. Apparently, even after this considerable passage of time, he had some unresolved feelings for her.

'Of a sort.' he amended to himself.

It was the only explanation for what he was doing right now. Married to Sam, by all accounts an incredible woman, for seventeen years, he had to wonder at his motivation for ‘racing’ toward the Slayer. There were things, ‘pressing things,’ that required his attention. He should be doing them right now.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure if his actions were based on softer feelings he might be carrying for the Slayer, or if they were based on the fact that he might get a chance to finally prove to her he was as capable of saving the world as she was.

‘Maybe it’s both.’ He nagged himself. ‘Still…could have sent another unit after her.’

Either way, the longer he thought about it the more he understood, it didn’t matter. Sure, he was being irrational. He still had to get her himself and he hoped this time he wasn’t too late. 

The last time he was Sunnydale during his own timeline, was nearly two decades ago. His Unit was working its way through Peru killing demons. They received word the Sunnydale Hell Mouth was going to Geyser and the Slayer didn’t have it under control. It was a jarring surprise to him that Buffy could be alive and didn’t have a situation under control. That was unheard of. His Unit hauled ass double-time to get back state-side in time to help, but were too late and things had been wrong ever since. 

Riley was a grunt back then, but he pulled his weight, made the brass look, and it paid off. He made Commander and things ran a bit different under his command. He was pro-active, where other Commanders had been content to wait and see how things played out. Riley shook the tree to see what would happen. A trick he learned from the Slayer herself.

He landed the Commander gig based on the knowledge and experience he accumulated working on the Hell Mouth. Some with the Slayer, some without. He was still alive because of that experience and had clocked more time in the field during major disturbances than anyone else in the Initiative. During that time the most important lesson he learned was, ‘Evil has an agenda and it waits for no one.’

He just spent the last decade fighting the current threat and was exactly nowhere. Even fighting every day, he was no closer to ‘winning’ this war than the day he first pulled on the uniform. If he could manage to gain just one step on The Senior Partners, he could win once and for all. If he was smart, quick and fast, today could be that day… ‘Possibly.’

It never mattered how many times he made ‘the jump,’ nothing he did ever stopped ‘all of it’ from happening. So, what was the problem? Well, that was easy. It was everything.

Time. Dimensions. Players. Energy. Intel.

There was never enough time. They weren’t in the right place to utilized the time they had. Sometimes only half of the players would show up. The intel was wrong wasting not only time, but the energy the jump consumed as well.

Once, he spent forty-eight hours in another dimension only to come home and find six months had passed. For the Powers that Be, this isn’t an actual problem. Time is relative for them. For him, it was one of the few times Sam hadn’t made a jump with him. When he strolled through the front door of their base housing after a six-month absence, she had soundly kicked his ass.

In the beginning, as Commander, he made a real mess trying to change certain things. He wasted a lot of energy correcting some pretty major screw ups and energy isn’t limitless, even for The Powers that Be. The Powers, omni-intelligent Beings of pure energy, able to move themselves fluidly through time without restraint, had to recharge their batteries, so to speak, after moving his human troops through time.

All of that aside, today was different. Today the entire game changed and honestly, it was disconcerting as hell. Something huge had happened somewhe…time…. ‘Sometime.’ He corrected.

Two weeks ago, the Powers watched as a shift in ‘all of time’ transpired without warning. The time lines simply began to converge at a single point in history. May 20th 2003 Sunnydale, California. In the last two days, time, normally fluid, had begun to solidify. 

It wasn’t as unpredictable from one timeline to the next.

While this should be good for him, it brought a new set of challenges. Chaos in the time lines meant he could come and go relatively undetected, even if it did make things difficult for him in other ways. There was never much wiggle room for error, but the Senior Partners could now see every move they were going to make before they made it. Instead of flowing through time, they were now in a race against it. He wished he knew what had happened to cause it, but so far, nothing on that yet. They were going to have to be spot on accurate the next few campaigns. 

'Might as well hurl a rock into the ocean.’ He thought sourly.

Dragging a hand through his hair and worrying at the corner of his mouth with his teeth he reasoned, ‘Got a good arm,’ but that’s not really the point. Wind resistance and the tide is always gonna play a role in accuracy when you hurl a rock into the ocean. If the intel he’d been getting this morning was to be believed, the Apocalypse had started. 

This wasn’t one of those run of the mill types either. Those started every other month.

Nope, this was ‘The Apocalypse.’

You know, the big one. The one they sell copies of at Barnes and Nobles.

‘Yeah. That one.’ He sighed.

Lucifer, yes, that Lucifer, was finally been able to bust out of Hell long enough to get something going and it had something to do with the Sunnydale Hellmouth. It took a while for Riley to wrap his head around Lucifer. He never believed in the whole ‘evil angel myth,’ so it came as quite a shock to his system to learn the fallen angel was in fact not a myth. He had a bit of a meltdown when he realized that it wasn’t bullshit after all.

‘Lucifer…is real… so weird.’ He remembered thinking.

Riley was pretty smart and he was tough. He wasn’t a punk and he’d been in the fight for a long damn time. He thought he knew just about all there was to know when it came to dealing with the Supernatural, until he was handed a brief on Sam and Dean Winchester.

They were fighting Lucifer…the literal Satan…while they were children. They were badasses.

It was shocking when he discovered that what he thought he knew about fighting monsters, amounted to a pile of baby shit in comparison to what the Winchesters knew about fighting monsters. Those boys had knowledge about fighting the good fight, he couldn’t ever have hoped to acquire on his own. Furthermore, in the years they had been doing it, they lost almost everyone they ever called family, but they got up and did it every day.

They lost themselves as well. A few times. At least from what his brief said.

Riley learned they had fought, died, and been brought back to life more times than could be counted. They were captured, possessed, imprisoned, forced to live in hell, escaped, suffered loss, and had given their all to defeat the evil in the world and each time they’d won. 

‘If that was what you wanted to call it.’ He thought sardonically.

After everything they went through and accomplished without any help from the Powers, Riley had taken matters into his own hands, approaching the Powers, (who’s assistance he was only able to gain through a lot of hard-won battles) on their behalf. Surprisingly they didn’t have any answers for him about the brothers, but agreed to lend them their assistance when they could.

‘They had rules to follow after all.’ He thought in annoyance.

Once the Powers got involved the boys won a few more here and there. Again, if you wanted to call it winning. At least the Powers were able to get the book keepers lay off of them and somewhere along the way an angel…a real angel, began working with them.

This morning when he got his first report on the timeline situation, he discovered someone was playing merry hell with all of his carefully laid plans and it would all be a bust if he couldn’t get a handle on the situation quickly. A few months back, the brother’s efforts to get the ‘escaped’ Lucifer back in his cage in Hell, failed the evil angel successfully ‘begot’ a child on a poor unsuspecting woman. Maddeningly, she disappeared and with one thing and another throughout the year, the baby Anti-Christ was born. Somehow, the kid was born as an almost adult. 

Don’t ask him how it worked, it didn’t matter. 

What mattered, was the Winchesters finally managed to acquire the Anti-Christ, Jack, and had the boy…man…it…living with them. They were hoping to be a good influence on him. The whole nurture vs nature thing. Further the angel Castiel, made promises to the…to Jack’s mother, promising to take care of him, shelter and teach him, but most importantly, keep him away from his ‘father.’ Riley had relaxed a little then and thought maybe it would be okay.

‘I should have known better.’ He grated at himself.

This morning, Jack pulled a disappearing act on the Winchesters.

Imminent Bonafide Apocalypse.

Those guys had been in the ‘grab your ass and hold on’ thick of it this morning, when he got the morning reports. It was total anarchy. As far as he was concerned, with Lucifer on the loose, Jack’s disappearance, and the timeline convergence they were looking at the perfect storm.

It was Armageddon. Suit up and make your peace.

‘This is not a drill.’

It was his habit to get up before everyone and quietly check the time lines since the anomaly. Not only had the boy disappeared, but this morning in 2017 was in absolute chaos. It was as if no one was out there fighting at all. The good guys sustained massive losses since the beginning of the year. Riley abruptly realized it took him until right this very second to understand, this was the reason he was going after the Slayer himself and why he’d decided to call it. He was going to fight, he was going to win, and he wasn’t going to give up any of the assets he had to any damn evil angel or his kid.

‘Ludicrous.’ He muttered, just as he did every time, he thought of Lucifer.

Working at it, he forced the unbidden panic coursing through him to the bridle while making his way through the base to The Machine. He wasn’t usually this out of sorts, but he wasn’t usually working this blind either. There was some hope for a little while when it looked, but that was all ‘time under the bridge’ and there wasn’t any more of that to be wasted. He wasn’t at all sure how many more jumps the Powers would be able to give him in the coming days and that was a key worry.

During the recent Election the Powers lost an essential stronghold, the result being their actual powers were failing. There just wasn’t enough good happening in the world right now and as a result it was taking them longer to recharge after each jump. He was spoiled over the last near decade by the ability to use the Powers nearly at his will for traveling between timelines. The ease with which he’d become accustomed to traveling between timelines was comparable to switching trains on the subway. Right now, they could barely afford to travel at all. It was going to take a ton of the Powers remaining energy to accomplish this jump alone. Not to mention, there would have to be another soon after that. It took a hell of a lot of energy to move so many people all at once. Which was another reason why it was time to gather everyone together and stop fucking around with it. He couldn’t really be in two places at once anymore and his resources were depleting rapidly.

Riley hadn’t gotten this far in the game by being slow witted. He quickly formulated a plan for the intel he received this morning before the sun came up over the eastern border of the desert. It was time to make something happen for the good guys! He spent the rest of the morning making his world move and moments ago, he finally received the update he’d been stalling the last 30 minutes for. The Winchester’s were scooped up by Bravo team and were on the way to the base.

Riley left instructions with Base Command on how to proceed once they arrived. There was about to be a whole lot of chiefs and not enough Indians and that always tended to gum up the works. B-team had been lucky not to get their asses handed to them. Adult Sam and Dean had been through hell. Literally. Both of them. They didn’t trust anyone and were hyper-vigilant. He was impressed with his guys right now.

Acquiring both sets of Winchesters together… ‘lucky.’

As a result, Bravo needed to stop what they were doing and double time it back to base, getting them into containment quick. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been any luck in locating the Sheriff the brothers worked with. So far it had been the only snag. Jody Mills was a badass. More importantly she was family to the brothers. They didn’t have many people left in their lives and she was one of them. If there was a chance for them to keep her in their lives, he was going to do his best to make that happen. And, they were going to need her later. Odds were, the brothers were going to be almighty pissed-off and not inclined to be cooperative when they woke up, which was why they were not still on the hunt for her. Hopefully, Riley could smooth some of that reaction out when he explained the situation to them in 2003, but first things first.

He was going to get the Slayer. He hoped he was in time. He walked faster. 

Alpha Team was already strapped in. He was the last to arrive. Taking his seat next to Sam, he stuffed his mouthpiece in and helped while the tech’s got him strapped in. When they were done, he reached out and gave Sam’s hand a squeeze. Shortly after he felt the pressure and bit down on the mouth piece. There was a pop, a noise that sounded like an explosion, and then it was over.

When they walked out of the machine they were still on base, but it was 2003.


	3. Three

**Three**

**California 2003: The Hell Mouth**

A bright yellow school bus blocked the road into Sunnydale. They were going to have to stop and move it, before they could get into town. However, the closer he got the better he understood. They weren’t going into town. 

‘Well, that’s definitely new.’ He thought, mouth falling open at the panorama laid out in front of him. The thought was sarcastically followed up by, ‘Too late’ and 'Makes sense about the time lines now.' There wasn’t any part Sunnydale left. Where a town should have been, there was nothing but a…pit. The persistent, acute flutter of panic returned to Riley’s guts and he struggled, reaching for calm. It was difficult with his chest caved in on itself. Sucking at air, he tried desperately to breathe through his wide-open mouth, but wasn’t able to haul in a whisper of breath.

‘She can’t be dead! She just can’t!’

Disbelief, denial, desperation all rampaged, while he calculated the energy and time it would take to repeat this trip. If there was no Buffy, there was no plan and every second he lost now, was lost for good. ‘She’ll be there!’ he insisted, discomfited by his shrieking emotions. Running a hand down his torso he snapped at himself, ‘Christ! Get a grip…’

Obviously, the people coming into view were seeing what he was seeing and had to be just as freaked out as he was. Not just his team, but everyone needed to see him fully in control and up to the task of, dealing with a giant crater in the ground. ‘Christ!’ he swore again, ‘What an absolute cluster fuck!’ Calm, cool, control is what this situation called for, ‘Even if it does feel like I’m dying.’

They were a closer now, able to clearly see forms. Taking a shuddering breath, he blinked away most of the dizziness the panic brought with it and began to relax by measures. Knowing her form simply through her body language, caught him by surprise. She was standing in front of the bus, blond hair waving in the uncommonly stiff breeze. All of her weight rested on her left hip in the manner of cocking it to the side, hands in fists planted at those narrow hips, waiting for him to arrive. He hadn’t seen her in years, but he knew it was her and he knew she was pissed.

Buffy tapped an annoyed toe against the blacktop while the thundering line of Humvees rolled to a stop, pulling off the road on either side to form a shielding corridor of vehicles, around them.

‘Well that’s just perfect.’ She scowled.

Without a single doubt, she knew Riley was with them. Same as she knew the ‘Initiative’ would’ve known what she was dealing with here and no one had come to help. ‘Hadn’t even offered to help.’ She added, furious with them for even bothering to showing up now. 

‘It’s too late now.’ She seethed. Raw fury heating her cheeks she wondered, ‘How is it possible to feel this angry and this numb at the same time? Look at them, just sitting there in their trucks like a bunch of weirdos. Girls are dead. Anya is dead. Spike. Town’s destroyed. No big. Show up whenever you want.’ She hoped they felt as horrified by the sight in front of them as she was. ‘Going to have to be careful about this anger and not let it turn to hate.’

Obviously, it was way too soon to think about letting go of any anger she felt, but already it made her feel edgy, violent and frustrated. Swallowing hard, she resolved to set a good example for the new Slayers almost rolling her eyes out of her head at the ‘goody goody’ sentiment, but she managed not to and settled into mental readiness for would transpire in the next few minutes.

Inside the lead Humvee, Riley spoke into the mouthpiece on his headset, ‘This is Commander Finn. Under no circumstances is anyone to fire their weapon. I repeat, there will be zero gunfire. However, these folks don’t need to know you’re restricted so proceed as normal. Again, you will maintain trigger safety. Safeties on now. I want one truck on the perimeter as look out. Fall out.’

Commander Finn didn’t like to be called Colonel. It created too much separation between him and his men, but Colonel he was and had been for more than a decade. The Commander stepped from his transport, waited for Sam and Graham to fall in behind him, then approached the Slayer who was…’ bleeding from a hefty gash in her side.’ 

‘That’s not good.’ He worried, the familiar fluttering panic stubbornly making a return.

This was 2003. In 2017, two active teams worked their way across the country gathering Slayers. If he hade a hope in hell of winning this thing, he needed this Slayer to train them! Buffy bleeding to death wasn’t on the agenda. He stopped several feet away, nervously rolling his shoulders. Faith, the Scoobies and what were probably several former potential Slayers stood at the ready behind her. Willow worked the magic that transitioned these girls into Slayers, not even an hour past. He was officially out numbered. The entire unit might have been able to handle two pissed off Slayers and a witch, but not this. Diplomacy wasn’t going to get him anywhere. A command would have them getting stupid with each other.

‘An offer she can’t refuse,’ it is then.

Putting on his game face, he lifted the visor on his helmet. Sam and Graham followed suit.

There was no reaction from her at all, but Faith snorted shifting her weight to square her body.

He grimaced; it was worse than he thought. ‘Is this everyone?’ he asked her simply.

‘You’re late.’ she said coldly.

Graham, never a fan Buffy, took a threatening step forward.

Faith grinned, cracked her knuckles and was able to take one step before Sam, lightning fast, shot an arm out, forestalling the stupidity Graham had been about to partake of. Faith’s grin disappeared and dejectedly she rested her weight on the balls of her feet.

Sam sent Faith an unspoken ‘don’t’ refusing to let go of Riley’s number two. They needed Graham and couldn’t afford to be without him because of a broken leg or jaw he was going to get because of his ego. Neither could they afford for this to turn into a shit show. Something Faith would have been all to happy to do. Hell, she would’ve hurt Graham for the fun of it.

Faith cocked a smirking eyebrow at the little wifey letting her know she was good to go whenever. In fact, she was ready to get it on the second she realized it was the Initiative coming for them. She hated these guys and didn’t need an excuse to kick some jarhead ass. Hell, she’d do it for the exercise. She expected the first sign of trouble to come from Soldier Boy’s little wifey, but surprise! It came from the bestie instead. She clocked Graham the instant he flinched. If he took another step, she was gonna light him up. Even now, the asshole was too busy glaring a hole through Buffy to realize it wasn’t her he should be worried about. Little Wifey knew though. Shifting her weight back and forth on the balls of her feet, she threatened the woman silently, her manner screaming, ‘One move and you’re toast.’

Buffy ignored Graham, her attention on Sam. ‘Faith, you good?’ She called over her shoulder. It was a warning to Riley’s commando creeps. Faith’s reputation for being unpredictable when provoked wasn’t for nothing.

Faith’s grin widened. ‘Look at B making sure ex-lover boy knows we’re working together now.’

Buffy was saying they were ready to take on his entire team if it came to that. Poor Riley thought he was dealing with just the two of them. Wouldn’t he be surprised to find an entire squad of Slayer’s giving his elite soldiers a beat down. She shifted her weight again, grin turning from delighted anticipation to menacing seriousness. 

‘Five by five, B.’ she answered, cockily. 

Buffy smirked and raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow at Riley in challenge.

Neither of them said anything more. It was Riley’s move.

Riley keyed his mouthpiece, ‘Alright, this is everyone, check for and triage the injuries then get them loaded double-time.’ He commanded.

Riley’s troops broke rank, ready to get started, and every single Scoobie and new Slayer crowded around the front of the bus crouched into fighting position ready to do battle at the Slayer’s command. Riley lifted his hand to twirl a finger above his head and to Buffy’s consternation every single soldier under his command aim their loaded assault weapons at her, her friends, and the unarmed Slayer’s. 

‘Faith…’ Buffy exhaled in shock, flicking a resigned glance at her number one.

‘You sure, B?’ Faith whined, ‘Come on, we can take these guys!’

Buffy nodded in answer, scowling at Riley. Faith, gaping at the Boss Lady, reluctantly stood down, shrugging when B didn’t budge. After a beat, she signaled the rest to stand down as well. Riley swiped a hand through the air signaling the Initiative soldiers to stand down. With the tense moment over, the soldiers fell to carrying out the previous order to triage and load the wounded.

Buffy, finally dropping her own hands, walked the few steps it took to reach Faith, gestured at the flurry of activity going on around them and said, ‘Handle this for me while I find out what is going on?’

Faith jerked a quick nod of assent, going in search of Giles to coordinate and organize this mess.

‘Get Robin off of the bus gently, he’s hurt.’ She growling, striding past Wifey.

Buffy watched Faith to go, flicked her eyes back to Riley and considered the last few moments.

‘Something’s very…wrong here.’ She thought, stumbling over the fact Riley had his men, point assault weapons at her sister, she realized at once he wanted something from her. ‘Obviously.’ The Riley she knew, would have never pointed a gun at her or Dawn in sincerity. So, he needed her help with something and had come to get it no matter the consequences. In theory, they were safe with him, but she knew with absolute certainty he would’ve forced her to come with him just now if she hadn’t relented. ‘Typical. He hadn’t come to help her close the Hell Mouth, but expected her to help him do…’whatever it is he needs help with.’

‘It’s all wrong.’ She worried to herself, feeling it in her bones. ‘Way wrong, way different.’

Patience was never going to be one of her stronger personality traits, but she could employ it when she had too even if it was ‘super annoying.’ Huffing out a breath proclaiming she was anything but the picture of patience, she came to a stop in front of her ex-boyfriend, rested her hands on her hips, winced in pain after bumping the wound in her side, then gritted sharply echoing Faith’s tone, ‘Make sure you get all of our gear off the bus. It’s all we have left.’

Riley nodded saying nothing. They stood staring at each other in the middle of the chaos happening all around them while she waited for him to start explaining. He didn’t, he stayed quiet. It annoyed her, testing her weak patience. So, she shrugged and walked away, too tired to play games with him. He would tell her what he wanted eventually. Of course, there was always what Riley told her and then there was the truth. In the preceding years, she had occasion to think over her relationship with him and the things she would do differently.

‘Look at me go!’ she congratulated herself.

Riley watched her go. Sam came to his side, following his gaze.

‘So, that went well,’ she sighed.

Nodding, he grimaced, shifting his weight to look at his wife intently. He was about to break trust with her. It wasn’t a decision he came to lightly and hoped she would forgive him for it later. As Commander, he understood his larger plan would be met with protest from her the moment he unveiled it. For now, he was keeping that at ‘need to know’ status. The fewer people who knew what was going on, the fewer opportunities for screw ups. He wouldn’t understand until much later, that maybe this shouldn’t have been the moment he chose to break that trust.

Marshaling his courage, he bit the bullet so to speak, and used his 'Commander Voice' with his wife. A thing he rarely did for obvious reasons.

‘I need you to oversee getting Angel to the base this afternoon. I want you to bring the 2003 Winchesters as well. I need to see all of them together while we’re here. Agree to anything Angel asks for. Take the Helo and whoever you’ll need to get it done as soon as we get back to base.’ He murmured, slipping past her to feign busyness elsewhere.

Explaining to her about this side trip later meant she was going to likely kick him to the couch for a while, but it couldn’t be helped. Currently, he hoped she would simply do what she always did. Follow along letting the answers to her questions present themselves. She knew him well enough to guess at his motivations without the explanation.

Sam watched her husband walk away. ‘Damnit.’ She grouched. He was keeping things from her again. Every damn time he started saying ‘I need’ she knew things were fucked. She cut her eyes at the Slayer as she stomped away to look for Johnson. She needed him to radio ahead to base for a Pilot. ‘Damnit.’

Riley’s soldiers stood hawkishly by, watching over the process of unloading the bus. Xander and Dawn suggested everyone pack a bag incase they had to run, regroup, and live to fight another day. At the time, she thought it was pointless, but watching those soldiers unload the crates containing Giles library, she admitted they were right and now she was glad of it.

Scowling, Graham pushed his way past Xander, almost knocking him off his feet. Her eyes widened as her friend flipped him the bird. ‘What the hell is his problem anyway?’ She grumbled, refraining from stalking Graham and knocking him on his ass. The moment Sam forced Graham to stand down today, she understood she didn’t have a choice about going with them. If that doofus had forced a confrontation with her, there would have been an all-out brawl, ending with Graham in the hospital and Riley not getting what he came for. ‘So, what’s that guys problem, anyway?’ she wondered. It wasn’t just this either. Sam was ‘worried’ about something. Her trepidation and the game of chicken played with Faith…huge indicator ‘this’ was all wrong.

‘Damn!’ she swore inwardly, and went to find Dawn.

Thirty minutes after he arrived, Buffy declined the offer to ride with Riley ‘so they could talk,’ choosing instead to stay with Dawn and the others. She gave him an opportunity to talk and he chose to stay silent. Fine, he could be silent a while longer. ‘So, I struggle with patience. Big deal.’ She was excellent at making people do things her way. ‘So, I might regret it later. So, what. Not the point.’ The point is, this was her play and she didn’t want the ‘Initiative’ too comfortable with ‘his’ decision making. Riley becoming Unit Commander was a hell of a promotion in a short amount of time, considering just a few years ago he basically told them to stuff it. She was curious about how he managed it. Mostly, knowing Riley, this promotion was going to have an impact on the way he worked with her. So, she had to set the tone by helping him understand she didn’t give a tinker’s damn about his promotion or his schedule or what he wanted. If he wanted her help, he needed to accept she was in charge.

Even working double-time it took another thirty minutes to get everyone triaged and loaded. The wound in her side was already scabbed over, but the medic cleaned, salved, and bandaged it nonetheless. Physically, she would be okay. All of the other bumps and bruises would be gone by morning and this so called ‘mortal wound’ would be well on its way. Taking her seat in the Humvee, Faith climbed in behind her, filling her in about Robin and Rona. Robin couldn’t stay conscious for more than a few minutes at a time and Rona was coughing up blood. The girl had gone down hard and Faith wasn’t sure she was going to make it. As far as Buffy knew, there wasn’t any precedent about healing from a wound received before you became a Slayer.

‘Let’s hope we get her to a doctor soon.’ She replied tiredly, as the convoy lurched into motion. 

They drove at a ridiculous rate of speed, non-stop through the desert for the next hour, eventually stopping long enough to be waved through the gate of the Military Base they arrived at. ‘They better have a hospital here.’ She thought in irritation that bloomed brighter, transforming into panic when the Humvee drove onto a tarmac and then a C-17 Airbus.

‘Where the hell, is he taking us?’ She swore, incredulously, receiving not answer.

There was the regret.

The cargo door on the massive plane folded closed, locking them in and suddenly they were no longer being held at gunpoint. Scrambling out of the Humvee, prepared to demand answers, she swung one way and then another looking for Riley, but he wasn’t there. Her mouth pulled together in a grim line, but popped open in a startled O when soldier Hanson, according to the name bar on his uniform began barking orders.

‘Find a seat and get buckled in double time!’ When the girls didn’t immediately comply with double time, Hanson began screeching, ‘DOUBLE TIME DOUBLE TIME DOUBLE TIME, LADIES! LET’S MOVE YOUR ASS!’

Finding a seat and getting buckled in became an instant occupation. The roar of engines powering up spurred the action to urgency. Buffy, slightly amused, noticed that for once, the girls followed protocol, keeping their mouths shut, watching Faith for direction. They didn’t even say thank you for the water, granola bars, and blankets they were given. Granted, it was louder than hell and most everyone was delirious from battle fatigue, terror, grief, and their bodies new rapid healing feature, but she could see the discipline Faith instilled over those few short days and was impressed.

During the drive, she quickly scrabbled together a plan, meaning to speak with the girls… ‘Slayers,’ she reminded herself again, when they got to a hospital and had some privacy, but that was an obvious mistake. She didn’t know where they were going, but they weren’t flying a C-17 Airbus to a hospital. Now that they were in the air, she would have to yell over the incredibly loud yet oddly soothing hum of the plane’s massive engines. Glancing around, she noted anyone not gobbling down granola and water was already snuggled into pairs like puppies. Some already asleep.

‘Guess it’ll have to wait.’ She resolved.

Dawn folded her blanket into a ball, wedging it between their shoulders and curling toward her. Buffy threw the blanket she was given over the two of them tucking it up around Dawn’s shoulders, giving her hair a stroke, then pushing it behind her ear. Dawn held her eyes blankly for a moment, then snuggling down in her seat to sleep. Buffy snuggled into her own seat, laid her head against the balled-up blanket and closed her eyes. The moment they closed; his face took shape behind her lids, the dazzlingly, deep blue of his own eyes shining at her from sculpted features she knew so well. The scene played like a movie in her minds eye, the word ‘conviction’ coming to her over and over again.

The conviction of his decision held her in place, she took his hand hoping he would change his mind and come with her, or she could drag him away, but he wouldn’t and she couldn’t. It was in that moment she saw him for who he truly was and admitted she loved him, shocking herself.

‘No, you don’t.’ he said, the denial echoing in her ears now.

It was the conviction, the certainty in the denial keeping her throat tight. Making it hard to breathe. Hard to swallow past the lump forcing tears into the corners of her closed eyes.

‘He shouldn’t have died believing I didn’t love him.’ Her heart moaned.

Swallowing harder, she forced herself to get her emotions under control. The last thing anyone needed, was to see her crying. Besides, if she started crying, she wouldn’t be able to stop and she absolutely couldn’t show any weakness right now. ‘…but what are we going to do without him?’ Her heart pushed insistently for an answer, ‘Because…I really do love him.’ 

It was only a few days ago when she allowed herself to consider having him ‘at all’ for the first time. The certain knowledge she was going to die soon, forcing her to get real about any number of things, but this especially. Finally, able to acknowledge he gained her attention years ago, in a way she didn’t completely understand yet, had her feeling stupid.

‘Scarlet O’Hara syndrome.’ She muttered, inaudibly.

Replaying conversation after conversation, she admitted how much she relied on him.

‘Especially after mom died.’ She reminded herself again.

Still unable to decide if she leaned on him because mom liked him so much, or if it was because he liked mom so much, she flicked away the tear sliding down her cheek. Either way, she knew he was grieving her mom, same as her, and during all of it, he was her rock. Time and time again, he came through for her and she had treated him like dirt, ignoring the fact she ‘needed’ him in her life. ‘Now he’s gone.’ She pulled in a breath to keep from sobbing and chastised herself harshly. ‘Wasted so much time being an idiot! Wasted it!’ She hated herself for it.

Shaking her head stiffly against the truth clanking in her head, she was never more thankful for the engine noise covering the short sobs low in her throat. She had to stop thinking about this or she was going to crumble. Pushing hard, she smoothed out the plains of her face using the meditation technique Giles taught her to clear her mind. Pulling cleansing breaths, slowly the fog of sleep dropped over her. The last thing she remembered thinking was, ‘I really to have to stop calling these Slayers, girls.’

Thankfully, she didn’t dream.

Dawn watching Buffy’s fitfulness, flicked a worried glance to Giles. He watched as well and grimaced in what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, urging her with a nod of his head to sleep. Not waiting to see if she complied, he pulled off his glasses and cleaned them with the edge of his blanket. 

After the C-17 was in the air for 20 minutes, all was quiet and Riley was able to get away to see Sam. She would absolutely have questions for him, but would wait until she got back tonight to press him about anything so it was safe for him to see her now. She was alone in the small galley next to the cockpit. Taking advantage of the privacy, he slipped in behind her taking her hips in his hands and turned her to steal a quick heated kiss. Like everyone, she too was feeling the strain of the last several days, as evidenced by the tell-tale crease in her forehead. 

Samantha Finn leaned into her husband’s kiss and borrowed some of his strength. She was going to need it for what she had to tell him. All of the new intel from the morning came in while they were in Sunnydale. Things were worse than she expected, she thought distractedly.

‘It’s as if no one is out there fighting back.’ She worried as her husband deepened his kiss.

In the past, even with the Internet, getting information on strange or weird occurrences was damn difficult. Even so, recently wave after wave of news stories about strange happenings flooded the airwaves, digital realm and journalist communities both professional and amateur. Entire families were disappearing. People weren’t going to work. Loud noises, like trumpets, were waking people up in the middle of the night. Fires, earthquakes, tsunami’s and as if that weren’t enough, the celebrity deaths were unnerving. She knew without having to be told they were dealing with an Apocalypse, but it seemed as if things picked up 1000-fold since just this morning.

Riley interrupted her thoughts. Reading the fear in her eyes he asked, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Do you want the bad news first, or the really bad news first?’ she replied.

‘Sam…’ he warned.

‘I’m pregnant.’ She said, tears welling in her sable colored eyes. She felt vulnerable and helpless enough as it was so it made her angry that the first thing she did was cry after the words had flown from her mouth. She hadn’t intended to tell him today. Not until later or after.

Riley, ears ringing and speechless, felt like a shipping container full of bricks had been dropped on him. Staring incredulously at his wife’s crumpled face, completely unaware he was sheet white; he knew with certainty he had never been this terrified in his life. Frozen, guts twisting themselves into knots, he searched the recesses of his mind, hoping for a response and coming up empty. It was likely he couldn’t hear anything his brain was saying, because the fear in his soul persisted in screaming random, rapid fire sentences at him. None of which were joyful. 

‘What! What did she say? Ask her to say it again. NO! Don’t ask her to say it again! Lucifer and his son ‘Jack’ are both loose on the planet. DO NOT ask her to say it again! HOW did this happen? Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! When did this happen? The Apocalypse... My wife is pregnant?’

This morning before the jump he thought the best-case scenario for this cluster fuck was going to be, they all died fighting side by side to save as much of humanity as possible from ‘The Satan’ until back-up arrived. 

'All…of…the…plans…just…changed.’ He silently screamed.

Several moments passed before he realized he hadn’t said anything to his ‘pregnant’ wife. She simply watched while he completely melted down inside his own head, tears coursing down her perfect face. No doubt she was as terrified as he was. Still, he _needed_ more time to process. 

‘So, what’s the really bad news then?’ he asked ignoring the ‘bad news’ for a tic.

He would let her know it was all going to be okay in just a minute. Soon as he was able to convince himself and quiet the shrieking in his head. He hoped the offhanded joke did its job, because she really needed to give him a minute.

Sam’s mouth fished open and closed a few times while she made peace with the fact her ‘rock’ couldn’t deal just yet. ‘He looks like he is going to faint.’ She observed, letting her husband slide, for now. After all, she had needed a few days to process the news as well. Considering that only yesterday she decided to wait a few more weeks to tell him, she had to wonder if maybe her ‘insecurities’ concerning the Slayer got the better of her. Since picking the tiny blond woman up, all she could think about was telling her husband she was pregnant. She wasn’t going to be saying that to anyone out loud though. In fact, blurting out she was pregnant now instead of after, probably didn’t have anything at all to do with Riley sending her to LA only moments after seeing Buffy for the first time in years, leaving them alone together for several hours. ‘Nope. Not at all. It just slipped out.’ She thought, bitterly. It was early. She was only six weeks along, but she had the blood test to confirm and the little bean was a sure thing. ‘No false positives with the blood test.’ She sniffled. Riley watched her expectantly…waiting for her to say something more. ‘Oh…’ She focused and got back to the ‘really bad news.’

She stammered, pulling her thoughts away from baby Finn, ‘The ugh, the…the Circle of the Black Thorn,' she cast about, mentally preparing herself for the next few minutes, 'They've um...started making some interesting moves. Alpha has broken into the Dollhouse again. That could be disastrous and just a wee bit concerning, since Echo is on this plane still in Faith mode. As it is now, she’s programmed to defer to Buffy, but with the remote wipe/upload capability we're sitting ducks as long as she's on this plane. Alpha would like nothing better than to get some payback on us. If I were you, I’d make sure someone is watching her at all times.

Also, the Anti-Christ disappeared. Like poof, literally, he is just gone.’ She winced at his expression, mistaking what it meant. ‘Not done yet.’ She said, squeezing his hand. ‘Centralia is crumbling. As of 90 minutes ago, the topsoil was disappearing at the rate of 50 yards an hour. It’s spewing carbon into the air at a rate they can’t calculate yet. The mine is roughly 3700 acres, at a depth of 300 feet. There is no way to know if it is related to this morning’s events or how it is going to play out, but it should reach the border of the Cleveland Hell Mouth in about three months’ time if this pattern holds sooner, much sooner, if it doesn’t.’

‘Or right on time, depending on how you chose to look at it.’ He thought, cryptically.

‘Right now, the consensus is, heat generated from the mine will make a cozy place for Moloch. Not a Moloch demon, mind you 'The' Moloch and brace yourself, Baal as well. I've read several theories and prophecies this morning concerning both. It’s a toss-up if they’re same or separate entities, likely separate, male and female.’ She explained, running a free hand through her hair.

Riley listened attentively, but he wasn’t happy she knew Jack was missing. He hoped to keep that a secret until this evening. ‘She’s quick.’ he mused, with a quick smile, then moved on to the news that The Old Ones were about to start battling each other for territory. It was disconcerting as hell. How he was going to get her to keep quiet about all of this? Maybe he would just make it an order. Probably not the best idea since he already gave her an order today. He just, ‘Needed a few minutes to…think!’ 

‘Baby, I don’t know what to do.’ She said, plaintively. ‘We’re not battling some errant demons stirring up a pack of trouble on a holiday weekend. This is it. If the Circle have started making moves, we’re up against the Senior Partners and probably their bosses too.

Twisting the cap off of his water, he drank deep, willing a few moments silence from the alarm bells clanging in his head so he could fucking think! His pregnant wife was in ‘go mode’ and he had to reformulate his entire day. ‘Christ! The next several weeks! God damnit!’ Okay, fine, no thoughts, only a tirade. 

‘Speaking of the Senior Partners, I can’t believe I already forgot this. I overheard one of the new Slayers just before take off. You’re not going to believe it and please don’t freak out, but Angel has taken over at Wolfram and Hart already.’

Riley rocked back a step, yanking the water bottle away from his lips, choking and spewing he exploded, ‘FUCK! When, did this happen?’ he demanded, flinging the water bottle away.

‘Not long. Ten days, at most maybe in this time line.’ She answered, calmly.

‘Why am I hearing about this now! Why are we on a plane to Nevada, instead of LA? Christ! I thought we HAD intel God damnit! We were right there! This explains the huge God damn crater in the ground!’ The diatribe abruptly ended at the sound of his wife’s shrill voice.

‘Don’t you dare yell at me, Riley Finn!’ she warned. ‘Have you forgotten we’re loaded down with two experienced Slayers, one of which is actually a Doll. Twelve or thirteen potentials turned Slayers, some of whom are injured. A Watcher. A Witch. A handful of civilians and oh yes, let’s not forget to mention the highly unstable key to another dimension, tucked inside a pain in the ass teen-age girl. Furthermore, I JUST told you I’m pregnant with your baby. A fact you have YET to comment on! You keep your God Damn voice civil and ease off the theatrics!’ She commanded leveling a deadly glare at him. Shoving away from him, she flung herself into a chair and began ranting to herself, 'Thinks he's the only one stressed around here today…I will kick your ass up above your shoulders the next time you forget who you’re talking to.' 

He wasn’t listening to her. The sinking pit of his stomach commanded all of his brains attention right up until it began wailing, SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! He was having a complete mental break, right here, right now. It was going to be impossible to get to Angel now and they needed him. ‘Shut up!’ he screamed at himself and began to frantically calculate time and energy. More time they didn’t have. More energy, they definitely didn’t have. ‘THINK!’ he commanded. After several beats, he said, ‘You're right. We need to be in Nevada. I gotta think. There’s too much. I…I can’t do all of this. I can’t keep it all straight in my…’ he bit of the last part of that sentence having forgotten momentarily to exude control.

‘We're going to help you.’ She assured him calmly, getting up to give his hand a squeeze.

He grunted.

‘Right now,’ she began, in her, I'm managing you tone, ‘You're going to eat something and take a nap. In 40 minutes, you’re going to do verbal battle with your ex-girlfriend. From what I remember she has you beat in that category. You also have to remember she's the Slayer and she's very pissed at you right now. Also, I'm not going to be here to save you from her.’ She reminded him seriously. 

He snagged a ham sandwich and some more water out of the fridge, then followed her below while he sorted through the maelstrom in his head. They both found a seat and buckled in. She held his water while he fooled with the wrapper on the sandwich. After a second, she handed him the water back to him, took the sandwich, opened it, and handed it back to him. 

‘So, I’m a father?’ he asked, taking a bite.

‘Yep.’ She affirmed.

‘I’m terrified.’ He said.

‘Me too.’ She admitted.

He turned to look at her and she read the joy and terror in his eyes. 

‘Thank you.’ he smiled, taking another bite out of his sandwich. 

She leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder.

‘By the way, you're grounded. Someone else can go to LA.’ He said.

She squeezed his arm letting it slide. If it’s easier for him to have her out of the field for now, so be it.

He finished eating, then they slept until the change in air pressure woke them up. 

They were home…sort of.


	4. Four

**Four**

**Nevada 2003**

They landed in the middle of the desert, surrounded by military.

‘Joy…’ Buffy thought sarcastically, looking over the landscape as she stepped off the plane.

It was runways and airplane hangers as far as she could see and not much else. She didn’t see anything remotely resembling a hospital. She had no idea what she had been expecting, but this definitely wasn’t it. Stupidly, she thought Riley would take them to a hospital or a hotel. Somewhere a doctor or at the very least a nurse would be available. She entertained the idea during the unloading process that there would be something more substantial to eat than a granola bar. She looked forward to the opportunity to wash off most of the blood that she and the majority of her people were covered in. She thought at the very least there would be chairs!

She thought wrong.

Piled on top of one another in what was little more than a holding cell she scowled, whirling around after being forced to step into the diminutive room, to demand something be done about the situation and insist that Rona and Robin see a doctor. Graham, smirking at her, closed the door in her face and locked it. That had been five hours ago.

At present, a seething Buffy banged on the heavy steel door once again.

Her fist was bruised from the hours of pounding, but so far, the pounding hadn’t done anything to quell the fury residing in her. Soldiers had come to take Robin and Rona to see a doctor shortly after they were been locked in, but they hadn’t seen anyone since. Giles tried to get her to stop pounding on the door, but she wasn’t listening. The girls…Slayer’s, needed out of this room. She needed to check on her injured people. They needed rest, water, food, a restroom for God sake! She raised her fist once more to pound away at the door and heard the key slide home.

It opened, to reveal an irritated Graham.

Without hesitation, she smashed her bruised fist into his nose, knocking him flat on his ass and leaving him sprawling in the middle of the hallway floor. ‘Ha!’ she crowed, unable to keep herself from taunting him and feeling much better, moved immediately into the hallway to stand threateningly over him. The rest of the room’s inhabitants shot to their feet and hurried to the open door to stare in fascinated amusement at the scene in the hallway.

‘WHERE IS THE BATHROOM!’ Buffy demanded, inches from Grahams bloody nose.

Faith and Kennedy stood stoically behind the Slayer glaring at the bleeding Soldier. Xander and Dawn were behind them…providing back up. Nearby soldiers flocked threateningly around the door. Buffy warned them off with the look of all-out war she was leveled at them. Kennedy and Faith, following the Boss Lady’s lead, did the same. No dummies, the soldiers took a few wary steps back, their sense of self-preservation telling them they had no desire to tangle with three Slayers or more, at once. 

Buffy grabbed Graham by his shirtfront and shoved a righteous finger in his face, ‘You get these people to a bathroom! Then you get them something to eat and a shower. If you can’t get them to a shower you get them to sink so they can wash this blood off and you DO IT NOW.’ She commanded in a deadly tone, following up with, ‘As of now, this little game is over.’ She pulled up to her full height, stepping to the side motioning for her people to move out of the miniscule room.

The soldiers looked down at Graham, sprawled in the floor holding his bleeding nose for confirmation. He nodded, then levered himself up leaving a bloody handprint on the floor. After gaining his feet, he stupidly wiped a sleeve across the bottom of his nose making a mess of his face.

‘The Commander wants to see you.’ He gritted, nasally.

Faith's eyes twinkled at the sound and Kennedy dropped her amused gaze to the floor. Buffy pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t laugh at the ridiculous noise. The silence up front hadn’t stopped Dawn from snorting a giggle though. Buffy had broken Graham's nose. Smashed it all over his smug face. She meant to break it. The crunching sound had pleased her immensely and suddenly the bruises on the balls of her fists didn’t hurt so much. She couldn’t stifle a grin any longer and gave into it. Graham’s eyes were already turning black.

Turning to Giles she said, ‘Giles, you’re in charge. Faith, you’re on point. Willow, Xander, no one goes anywhere alone. They try to separate you, you fight.’ She instructed. 

‘You want me to come with you, Buffy?’ Kennedy offered.

‘The Commander wants to see Buffy only.’ Graham interjected.

Buffy didn’t offer an answer, just turned to follow Graham. She wanted to see the Commander too. Graham was just standing there not moving except to run his fingers over his broken nose, like a big dumb oaf. Rolling her eyes, she motioned for him to make with the snappy already.

‘Psh…GO!’ she ordered, with a jerk of her head.

He did…reluctantly.

He was itching to have a go at her. She smirked at his back while she followed him.

‘Any time you feel froggy, little man.’ She thought.

One more misstep out of him and she wouldn’t just knock him on his smug little ass again. She would give it a serious kicking. What was so odd about his aggression was, he knew she could do it, but pressed her anyway. Whenever they spared in the past, she beat him soundly. The dislike between them was mutual and nothing new, but he never stepped to her like this. At present, she was glad to see he was remembering she wasn’t anyone he wanted to mess with.

They walked for what was probably a month, then took a left at a hallway looked exactly like thirty others they walked past before choosing this one. Fortunately, they reached their destination in the next few steps, because she resolved if they walked for even another minute, she was going to head back and Riley could come to her. 

Graham opened the door and held it to usher her into an empty room.

‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ She bit out, taking in the windowless room. Predicting, ‘This thing is going to be a giant waste of my time.’ She wished for a shower.

Graham followed her in and closed the door gesturing for her to take a seat at the table. At least it wasn’t an interrogation room. It was a run of the mill, ugly, grey meeting room that boded well for whatever was going to happen next.

While pounding on the holding room door, she ran the gamut of reasons for why the Initiative might want to bring her in for questioning. The least of those, was pinning the destruction of Sunnydale on her. Which was to say, she had no idea why she was hear. She just successfully cancelled the second season of the Apocalypse. 

Almost immediately and before she could get comfortable, Sam opened the door, took in Graham’s appearance, flicked a surprised glance at her, frowned in confusion, then glowered at Graham.

‘Ooookay…’ Buffy thought.

Sam finally stood aside and motioned two guys… ‘in shackles’… into the room.

‘Well…here we go.’ Buffy thought.

Sam pointed at the chairs on the opposite side, indicating to the ‘guys’ to take a seat.

They did.

Once seated, they curiously sized her up, taking in her blood covered clothing and disheveled appearance then both casting quick glances toward Graham before looking at each other pointedly.

‘Sam and Dean Winchester, meet Buffy Summers. Buffy, that is Sam on the left there and this is Dean.’ She said, gesturing at the brothers in turn, then explained, ‘Sam and Dean are hunters.’

‘Hey! I know who you guys are!’ Buffy exclaimed excitedly, sitting at attention. She asked, hopeful the answer was yes, ‘Your dad is John Winchester, right?’

They didn’t answer.

‘I have totally heard of him!’ she went on, ignoring the fact she hadn’t gotten an answer. She beamed up at Sam and gushed, ‘These guys are totally famous!’ Then thought, ‘And they are really cute!’ but decided to keep that to herself. 

Dean rolled his shoulder, flicked a shy glance at the floor and quirked a smile he couldn’t contain at being told he was famous by the Slayer.

Sam frowned at the Slayer, looking uncomfortable.

‘Guys,’ Sam began, ignoring Buffy’s outburst. ‘Buffy is the…’

‘Slayer.’ Dean finished for her.

A smile split Buffy’s face. ‘No…You’ve heard of me?’ she asked shyly, now flicking her own eyes toward the floor only to peer at Dean through her lashes while waiting for him to answer.

Dean shrugged and gave a little nod.

Sam jerked a look at his brother and kicked him under the table.

‘Ow! What?’ Dean grouched loudly at him.

Sam, angry, glared at his brother pointedly and shrugged, indicating that ‘what’ should have been obvious. Jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, chin jutted slightly toward his brother was all Winchester speak for, ‘SHUT UP!’

Dean pulled a ‘whatever’ face and Sam kicked him again.

‘Sammy, I swear to God…’ Dean threatened.

‘Cool it.’ Sam muttered from her position by the door.

Sam’s mouth flattened furiously. He was missing critical classes. Finals were in two weeks and Jess had no idea where he was right now. She was either going to be worried sick or super pissed. Either way he was in trouble with her and Dean was being a… ‘dick!’ He let himself into Jess’s apartment after class. That was the last thing he remembered, until waking up on the floor of a moving truck, to find his brother, trussed up next to him. Instead of coming up with a plan to get them out of here, Dean was sitting there, googly eyed over some girl and running his mouth. ‘Beyond annoyed.’ Sam huffed irritably.

Dean rolled his eyes at his dork of a brother and turned back to the Slayer who was, ‘HOT! Smokin hot!’ He was having a major fanboy moment. ‘The Slayer’ was sitting across from them. The one girl in all the world, blah blah blah, whatever! SHE was famous and she’d heard of him…them, and Sam was sitting over there all worried about school and his girlfriend. ‘Psh…dweeb.’ 

‘Well, this was just perfect.’ Sam thought in amazement, adjusting her gun belt. It was getting heavy. It took her and Riley years of working together, before they ever caught a whiff of the Winchesters and here the Hunters and the Slayer know each other by name. ‘Just perfect. Is anyone even working with us at all?’ she wondered. 

‘Hi…’ Buffy said, shyly, suddenly self-conscious of what a mess she was. To cover her discomfort she turned to Sam, um, Samantha…? ‘Well that was going to get confusing really quick.’ She realized and grinning, quipped, ‘So, should I call you Samantha now?’

Sam gave her a bored look and ignored her.

Buffy tried again, ‘Why am I here, Sam…antha?’ she asked, rather pointedly. Enough of waiting for Riley. Let’s get this show on the road. She was hungry, tired, and she wanted a shower. ‘Right now.’ She thought, impatiently.

‘We usually just call him Sammy.’ Dean offered, hooking a thumb at his brother.

Sam-my kicked Dean twice as hard under the table this time.

‘DON’T call me that!’ He demanded. ‘Sammy is what you call a child.’

‘Which, is what you are!’ Dean barked, lunging at his brother threateningly. ‘…and, OW!’

Buffy’s eyebrow rose and she tossed an incredulous glance at ‘Samantha.’

‘Riley is on his way.’ Was all the woman had to say by way of answer.

Sam Finn was actually a bit shell shocked by the day’s events. In the space of a morning the world had gone to shit. She just spent the last five hours arguing with her husband on what might be the best course of action now. Graham had acted like a genuine asshole, leaving Buffy and her people in a holding tank while he went to collect the Winchesters. She was glad she wouldn’t be in the room when Riley found out Graham had probably derailed any voluntary cooperation they could have hoped to receive from these Slayers. Her husband was hanging on by a thread as it was. Graham himself looked like he was going to snap into two separate pieces. She, was alternately starving and feeling like she had to puke. Further, she didn’t want to be here dealing with the antics of these people who were little more than teenagers no matter how capable they were. She wasn’t in the mood to put up with anymore shit today, least of all Buffy Summers. 

Buffy rolled her eyes at Samantha’s reply and turned back to the brothers. ‘So…’ she chirped sassily, ‘What are you fellas in for?’ and grinned. The door opened and Commander Finn walked into the room. Her entire demeanor shifted instantly, ‘What in the…’ she thought, abruptly. Then, ‘He looks…tired? Sick? No. He looks…’ She couldn’t put her finger on it settling on ‘Different.’

‘Hey…’ he said, shuffling tiredly around the end of the table. He cast a quick irritated glance at Graham, taking in the soldiers' busted nose. Graham stiffened and shuffled his feet to a more rigid position. He looked down at Sam and Dean, snorting in exasperation, ‘I’ll get those cuffs off of you if you promise me, I won’t regret it.’ He offered.

The brothers didn’t say anything. 

‘Well, at least hear me out before you try to kick my ass.’ He grinned.

Graham’s posture became even more rigid and his jaw ticked in annoyance.

Sam and Dean glanced at each other. Sam shrugged at Dean who nodded then said, ‘Yeah…alright.’ His voice was hard and no nonsense now that he understood he wasn’t here for a meet and greet with the one and only all-powerful Vampire Slayer. Sammy was right he needed to button it up because as of right now he didn’t have a clue what was going on. Sammy cast an ‘I told you’ glance under raised eyebrows at him. To which he replied with a silent, ‘Yeah, yeah…whatever.’ Glance of his own.

Riley gestured at Graham to take their cuffs off.

Buffy took the opportunity to jab, ‘What about me? Can I kick your ass?’ She turned to the brothers and said, ‘I got first dibs.’

Dean's eyes sparkled with barely concealed amusement. He liked the Slayers brass. Graham shot a murderous look in Buffy’s direction but removed the shackles. Riley ignored Buffy. She grimaced at him and pouted. How was she supposed to irritate him into doing what she wanted him to do if he ignored all of her sassy Buffy banter?

Riley began pulling equipment off of his utility belt, while Graham worked at the Winchesters shackles. As he laid the items on the table he said, ‘I’m glad you guys are here, I need to talk to all three of you.’ 

Buffy noted he said this as if they’d been invited instead of hauled in against their will. She also noticed that Samantha remained standing as Riley, grunting in apparent pain took a seat. ‘Is he injured?’ she wondered.

Graham finished with the cuffs after an eternity and Riley dismissed him, which didn’t set well with the soldier at all. He gathered the cuffs and stomped out of the room. ‘I know you’re mad and have no idea why you are here, but hear me out.’ Riley began.

‘Not until you say sorry.’ Buffy tossed out, interrupting him.

Riley looked at her without any attitude or preamble at all and said tiredly, ‘I’m sorry.’

All of the angst she was prepared to hurl at him in payback for keeping them locked up for hours without a bathroom or water, went out the window. Not that there was a window, but that wasn’t the point. Riley was serious. Deciding she would only be a small pain in the ass, instead of a giant one, she said haltingly, ‘Alright…then, so what’s going on?’

It took Riley half an hour to run down the situation to them. Now that he finished, she didn’t understand half and didn’t believe the other half. He entirely omitted obvious chunks of information. When she pressed him for details, he refused to elaborate further, rekindling her anger and natural instinct to be uncooperative. 

‘Physical time travel and the Anti-Christ. Who did he think he was talking to?’ she snorted, dismissing the idea events in time could somehow be corrected. That kind of time travel, wasn’t possible. They turned as one to look at her. She shrugged awkwardly, ‘What?’ she pressed the brothers, ‘Don’t tell me you believe this.’ Surprise! They didn’t answer.

Buffy took a hard look at Riley again. He just told her he was actually fourteen years older than he was supposed to be. Stressed? Yes. Older? Okay, he did look older, but that could just be fatigue, she reasoned. Flicking her gaze to Samantha she noticed the crow’s feet and wisps of grey through her hair. ‘No way!’ her brain denied again.

Dean, having learned his lesson, kept his mouth shut, but was thinking, ‘Time travel? Psh…who does this guy think he’s talking to? It’s crap!’ He cast an amused glance at Sam, and shrugged dismissively.

Sam knew exactly what his brother was thinking, same as him, ‘Armageddon…crap.’

Buffy, having had enough of the subterfuge, decided to take matters into hand.

‘Riley,’ she began, pulling a hand tiredly through her hair. ‘It’s been a really long day, enough already. Just, tell us what you want. Or, at least…tell us the truth this time.’ She insisted.

Riley stared in challenge, waiting for her to accept what he said as fact. All he had to do was wait her out. She was smart, she knew him. It was going to take her a minute more to accept it, but she would. Then, he would have to tell her the bad news. Holding her gaze, he waited and it was hard not to look away but he held on. There was a time when that stubborn, defiant, glint in her incredible green eyes would heat his core, making him anxious to get her alone for a while… and with that thought, he lost the staring contest. He dropped his gaze to the table and shifted his weight to cover his discomfort.

Buffy tossed her gaze back at Dean, ‘I’m not sure if you will believe any of this or not, because for some reason neither of you are talking, but today my boyfriend, my home, and my friends were swallowed up by the Sunnydale Hell Mouth. Do you even know what a Hell Mouth is? Never mind. The point is, I’m tired, grief-stricken, probably suffering from PTSD, I need a shower and I got stabbed…clean through.’ She said, pointing to the wound in her side. ‘Get the picture?’

She got nothing from them in return and rolled her eyes, ‘Shock…’

‘Fine. I’m all out of patience. So, I just want to apologize to you both about this beforehand. Okay?’

Nothing from either brother.

‘Alright then, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

Pulling in a lung full of air she blasted Riley.

‘TELL…ME…IN ENGLISH…WHAT…THE…HELL…IS GOING ON! I JUST AVERTED THE APOCALYPSE! YOU…WERE LATE…REMEMBER? YOU SAW IT! SPIKE…IS DEAD! HE DIED…SO HE COULD FINISH IT! SO, WHY…ARE WE HERE…AND WHAT… IS WITH ALL…THE CRYPTIC!’

By the time she’d finished she was leaning half way across the table, palms flat, glaring fire. All of the men in the room were leaning away from her, wearing uncertain expressions. Graham burst into the room and Riley held up his hand to stay the man at the door.

Samantha had given in to the grin she was trying to stifle by the time Buffy got to ‘AVERTED’ but the stoic expression she wore most of the time fell immediately back into place when the Slayer revealed the news that Spike was dead and he was the one to ‘finish it.’

Just as Graham burst into the room, dread settled into her stomach. If it was true about Spike, they had their answer to why everything was utter chaos. She wasn’t sure Riley picked up on what was Buffy had actually said and moving to stand next to her husband, said ‘Buffy, say that again. Please.’

Buffy, confused, said, ‘Say what again?’ She just went full Wax-On Slayer, just now. These people better get their listening ears on. She wasn’t in the mood to repeat herself all night. ‘Geeze.’

‘Please explain about Spike. Say that part again.’ Sam requested, gently.

Feeling more self-conscious instead of annoyed now that she realized she was going to have to explain more in depth, she stammered, ‘Oh. Well, Spike…okay, look…Spike, he’s my boyfriend okay and I just found the courage to love him. So, he was an EVIL Vampire, but he fought for his soul and got it back so he would be good enough for me to love him.’ She babbled, then shrugged awkwardly.

They stared at her; blinking in consternation.

Seeing as she made no sense and no one understood her, she course corrected, then haltingly continued. ‘See, he wore Angels champion necklace and died in an inferno the rest of us barely escaped from to save all of our asses. He’s dead. Anya too, and countless others. He saved us all. See? He’s a hero…a champion.’ she finished, matter of factly, love and pride making her voice stronger by the time she’d finished. The tears she’d been forcing back all day reappeared and brimmed bright in her eyes threatening to spill over her lashes. She swiped at them quickly refusing to let them fall.

Riley, in a flash, understood that, being consumed with the events of the last several hours, he seriously missteped and needed to fix it now. Turning hopefully to his wife, standing behind him, the expression she wore, told him everything he needed to know. He was moments away from blowing it. Panic had been his only motivator throughout the day. He was on the right course but the panic nearly caused a catastrophe. He was with his wife in 2003 not 2017 and he was going to have to work a miracle. Buffy was traumatized...obviously, and should be. There was a hole where Sunnydale used to be. He was so desensitized to things anymore that he forgot not everything is business as usual. Forgotten that sometimes people needed time.

A lesson he’d been reminded of just a few hours ago when his wife told him she was pregnant.

Unfortunately, time, something he had none of, was called for. An apologetic Riley said, ‘I…am sorry, Buffy. I wish we hadn’t been late. Yes, there is a reason. I’m sorr… What do you want me to do? What can I say to you?’ he asked sincerely.

‘Well, you can start at the beginning.’ She answered.

Riley laughed. He couldn’t help it. It was time. There was no beginning.

‘Why don’t we start with…Spike has a soul?’ He questioned.

‘He had a soul.’ She replied. ‘Now he is dead.’

Riley shifted, dragging a hand down his face. Okay, explain this…please.’ He asked carefully.

So, she did. She explained that Angel brought the Champion Necklace to Sunnydale intending to wear it so they could defeat The First Evil and seal the Hellmouth once and for all. She accepted the amulet and sent Angel home telling him she needed him in LA in case The First got past her. In short, Spike would wear the amulet...

‘Okay…how is it that Spike… Your saying you didn’t allow Angel didn’t wear it?’ Riley asked. He was still confused. Angel ALWAYS wore the damn amulet. She had to be getting it confused, not him.

Buffy sighed tiredly, ‘Didn’t you listen to a word I said? Spike. Got. His. Soul. Back.’ She enunciated the words slowly. ‘He met the criteria for wearing the damn necklace. Africa. Demon Trials. Ensouled, for me. Fighting by my side even before then. Even after that chip you put in his head stopped working, but he...fought, even though I didn’t trust him then. I didn’t listen to him when I should have.’ Tears slipped silently down her cheeks. She was tired of holding them back. ‘Everything was a mess, but he knew what to do to fix it. He’s my champion. He was always my champion. It’s why I chose him. I just didn’t know when I did, it would…end him.’ She sniffed.

Dean, engrossed in the story cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It was a fascinating story. He didn’t believe a word of it, but it was fascinating. Samantha tapped Riley on the shoulder and moved him over taking the seat next to him finally. Her husband needed a break and she’d finally figured out where everything had gone wrong. As far as she could tell, unless they could get to Angel soon…they were all fucked.

‘You’re in danger.’ Sam said without preamble, placing a hand on Buffy’s arm.

Riley closed his eyes in consternation and groaned. He was really irritated with his wife just now.

Ignoring Riley’s groan, she quipped, ‘Danger smanger. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred time. I’m danger girl. When am I ever not in danger?’ She laid her head against her chair back and feigned boredom.

Dean elbowed Sam, ‘See, she get’s it.’

Buffy’s expression replied, ‘Yep.’

‘You’re in the, you’re dead, kind of danger.’ Samantha added.

‘Been there done that. When, where, how?’ Buffy replied unaffected.

Dean pulled his mouth together in an impressed pucker and nodded his appreciation of her bad assery.

‘About three months from now, Rome, Ambush.’ Riley answered.

She nodded acceptance and sat up. They were finally getting somewhere.

‘Dawn is with you.’ Sam interjected. ‘She’s dead too.’

‘We’re here to save you. I need you...’ Riley stammered. He was trying to decide what he was going to say and how to say it. ‘The world needs you. We can’t…win this thing without you.’ He finished.

Buffy only half heard him. She didn’t know what would happen if Dawn died. Supposedly, if Dawn died in a specific way, it activated her key. She didn’t know what Dawn was the key to, just that it was another kind of dimension. The plot was thicker, but she still didn’t know what ‘thing' they were up against. However, they finally had her attention.

‘As far as I can tell right now, your death will be in retaliation for some pretty serious action that Angel is beginning to take in LA against the Senior Partners. Or, at least that’s the way it was this morning. It seems that there’s been a major, ‘disturbance in the force’ if you get my meaning and this time it looks like it’s Angel’s fault.’ Riley explained.

‘No, I’m not getting you, at all. You still haven’t told me anything substantial and we have been in here forever. I don’t understand any of this. Why do I have to keep saying that to you? Retaliation for what?’ she complained.

Riley started to speak, but Sam stopped him. Elbowing him out of the way she said, ‘My turn. Buffy, can’t you see what’s happened?’

‘Hellooo! Is this thing even on?’ Buffy mimed tapping a microphone.

Then Sam, realization dawning, understood Buffy didn’t see, because she really didn’t know.

‘Um…What did Angel tell you he is doing in LA? Did he tell you where he got the amulet?’

Riley turned sheet white. ‘They’d all been duped.’

Buffy gave Samantha the eyebrow. ‘Ugh…’

‘Okay, never mind. We’ve got big problems.’ Sam said, looking at Riley.

Riley knew then they’d all been duped by the Partners and Angel was in on it, only the Partners didn’t know that they had been double duped. He didn’t even really understand all of it yet, it was so confusing. Just that there had been a lot of duping going on the last few days and Buffy and Spike just threw a wrench in amongst all of the duping. He had no idea where Angel stood in all of this. Angel had maybe actually tried to do the right thing or he had maybe known what the consequences of the amulet would be. Scrubbing a hand over his hair, he decided to err on the side of caution and began explaining to Buffy quickly. Standing, he clipped tools back onto his belt while he explained.

‘Angel has taken over a law firm in Los Angeles called Wolfram and Hart. It’s…an ‘evil’ law firm. By that, I mean they’re there to serve clients who are evil. He’s obviously lost his soul again, because he would’ve never given you that amulet otherwise. We need to leave here right now.’ He finished, turning for the door.

Sam…antha, stood to follow him, gesturing for Buffy and the Winchester’s to follow.

‘Wait! Wait a minute!’ Buffy demanded incredulously and barked, ‘What do you even mean? First of all, there’s no way Angel has gone to work for an evil law firm. Second of all, Riley, he intended to wear that amulet himself. And, third…he’s…not even a lawyer.’ She yelled, in bewilderment.

Riley turned back to her and argued heatedly, ‘Yeah…but he didn’t wear it and you don’t have to be a lawyer to be evil, though it helps! You said you told him no. He would’ve counted on that if he knew that Spike had a soul. How did he take the news about Spike’s soul? Was he surprised or did he already know?’

‘I don’t understand what your issue with Angel is all the time.’ She retorted.

‘Stop, both of you.’ Samantha yelled.

‘Maybe a Vampire really did dust himself to save us all.’ Dean contemplated. His dad was never going to believe any of this. One look at Sammy confirmed he didn’t believe any of it either. He wondered how many Vampires with souls there were in the world. He wasn’t buying any of this time travel bit either. He shifted in his chair to look at Sammy. He couldn’t believe he was going to do this.

Sammy saw it and shot him a warning look, but he ignored it. 

‘So…what are we doing here, then?’ he said, interrupting the argument going on. ‘What is it that you want from us? As far as I can tell, you people don’t have half a clue as to what’s going on, or what to do about it. I’m sorry, but I ain’t buying all this crap about time travel and Vampires with souls either. Do you people think we were born yesterday? As far as I’m concerned you people are all loony. So, tell us what you want and let us the hell out of here. Sammy’s got school and if you can’t tell he is just itching to get back there!’ Dean said, pulling his mouth together in irritation and throwing his hand in the air, losing his patience entirely with these nut jobs.

Buffy gestured at Dean and said, ‘I’m with him. Mostly on time travel.’

Turning to Dean she said, ‘The whole Vampire soul thing…totally true.’

‘Whatever.’ Dean answered, waving a hand at her dismissively.

Riley needed to convince these three of the reality of the Universe in the next few minutes. He scrambled through his tumultuous brain searching for an answer and explanation that would get them on board. Suddenly he knew. Sitting back down at the table he pulled a phone out of his vest pocket and slid it across the table to Buffy.

‘Call me.’ He instructed. ‘Put it on speaker.’

‘For God sake.’ She grumbled.

She snatched up the phone, flipped it open and dialed the number by heart.

It rang four times, the usual.

‘Hello!’ the person on the other end of the phone yelled.

It was Riley, who was sitting across the table from her.

‘It’s Buffy.’ She said into the phone, nonplussed.

‘Oh my God Buffy, just…we’re almost there, hang on! Just hang on!’

‘Riley, let me speak to Sam.’ She said, shaken.

‘Hello!’ Sam yelled into the phone.

‘Sam, it’s Buffy. Tell me the first thing you ever said to me.’

Sam in this time line stood across from her nodding.

‘What?’ Sam on the phone asked, confused.

‘Tell me…the first thing you ever said to me.’ Buffy said louder.

‘OH! Sorry, I couldn’t hear you. I, ugh, I asked you ugh, ‘what exactly are you doing with my husband?’ She said, quickly.

‘Put Riley back on, Sam.’ Buffy said.

‘I’m here.’ Riley said, taking the phone. ‘We’re only an hour out, Buffy. Just wait for us to get there and we can help you.’

‘Tell me what happened in the library at UC Sunnydale the day we met.’

‘What does that have to do with anything?’ Riley asked.

‘Just tell me.’ She pushed.

‘You dropped a book on my head.’ He answered.

White light exploded behind her eyes.

‘Don’t come, Riley. It’s too late.’ She snapped the phone closed.

Suddenly the memory of this conversation flooded Riley’s mind. He remembered vividly what it had felt like when Buffy ended that call. It was terrible and heavy. Sam felt it as well. That was something new. Nothing like that had ever happened before and they both wondered what it meant.

Buffy stared at Sam and Dean. The whole phone thing had been fairly compelling. She could see that neither of the boys were convinced as of yet, but she was. There was no way either Riley or Sam could have known the way that was going to play out. They couldn’t have known what she would ask the people on the other end of that phone. Besides, she knew it was Riley on the other end. She knew just from the way his voice sounded when he was stressed out.

‘I think we need to hear him out.’ Buffy said, to the brothers.

Riley nodded to her in thanks. He reached into his vest again and pulled out a shiny, slim, rectangular box. It had a glass front on it. He touched the glass and it came to life. He held it up so they could each get a better look at it. ‘This is an iPhoneX plus. It isn’t out for mass production yet, but I know a guy.’ He said, as if they should know what the hell he was talking about.

Samantha stared at him astonished. He was seriously taxing her patience.

‘Anyway…’ he continued sheepishly, ‘This is the phone I use every day and short of using The Powers That Be to take you to 2017 to prove time travel to you this will do nicely. Now, it won’t work exactly the way it is supposed to here in 2003 because there isn’t a network to support it yet, let alone a wi-fi connection, but pretty much, it’s just like having a computer in your pocket.’ Riley began pushing the tiny pictures on the screen. He showed them photos of all kinds of things and places they’d been. When he began to explain how the phone worked Sam-my leaned in to see better. Riley knew he had the boy then. It didn’t take long for Sam-my to understand the gist of it and he started nodding in agreement with the things Riley was saying.

It was all Greek to Buffy and she didn’t need to be convinced any further. She did wonder why you needed a phone to take pictures when cameras were so readily available, they even sold disposable ones.

‘Psh…weirdos.’

‘Okay.’ Sam said, surprising Dean. ‘You’ve convinced me. That tech isn’t supposed to be available for at least 15 years, so you have my attention. Tell us what’s going on. All of it. If you hold anything back, we’ll know. We aren’t idiots, despite what you think. I’m not sure how you think Dean and I can help you, but if we can we will.’ He finished, nodding at Dean.

‘Well, pretty much, I just wanted you to meet us and meet Buffy. I’m hoping to avoid a conflict with you when we go back to the future…ugh, later.’

Buffy couldn’t help it, she snorted and cracked up.

Riley chuckled and said, ‘Okay, fine I could have said that differently.’

‘Great Scott!’ Dean barked out, then blushed self-consciously.

Everyone dissolved into uncomfortable giggles.

‘Okay, fine, you’ve met us “Doc,” now what?’ Dean gruffed out soberly.

‘Nothing.’ Riley answered.

‘You’re free to go. I mean, we’ll take you back of course. Home that is. You’re in the middle of nowhere.’ Riley offered.

‘Actually, I could stand to hear some more.’ Sam-my said, leaning in.

Everyone turned to look at him. He shrugged, ‘What? I could.’

‘I thought you had classes.’ Dean reminded him.

‘I…want to hear more about Wolfram and Hart.’ He answered.

Sam-antha started talking before Riley had a chance to stop her.

‘Wolfram and Hart is a cover for The Senior Partners. It’s literally, evil incorporated.’ She began. ‘If you’re say…a corrupt political official by the name of Senator Helen Brucker, your law firm would be Wolfram and Hart.’ 

‘Senator Brucker is evil?’ Sam questioned her skeptically.

‘Who are the Senior Partners?’ Dean asked, diverting that conversation.

‘Well, they’re the evil equivalent of The Powers That Be.’ She answered.

‘That doesn’t tell me anything.’ He replied.

‘I know.’ She said, glancing at Riley again.

‘What, you want my go ahead now?’ Riley clipped and sat back gesturing for her to go ahead.

‘The Senior Partners are three all-powerful demons. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. The Powers That Be are, to the extent of our knowledge, two enlightened beings that exist just outside the mortal realm. The Senior Partners exist on a different vibration than all of the rest. They control the world through a very powerful and diverse group of lackeys who do their bidding, under the name of, Circle of the Black Thorn. In return, the Circle are imbued with power and they live very decadent and cushy lives. The Circle are THE power and authority on this earth. They’ve been able to successfully keep The Old Ones locked out of this realm since…well, no one can remember when. Before you ask, yes, The Old Ones are exactly who they sound like. The Partners retain their power through the evil the Circle promotes, manufactures, and sells to humans. The evil that humans then act out creates the energy needed in order for the Partners survival. It’s a circle. See?’ She asked.

They nodded each in turn.

‘And the Powers That Be?’ Sam asked.

‘The polar opposite.’ She supplied. ‘They’re not exactly angels. They fight on the side of good. They’re not as powerful as the Partners, but there are still people doing enough good in the world they’re able to remain in the fight and help us occasionally.’ She offered.

‘Are you just going to tell them everything?’ Riley barked at her.

Everyone ignored him.

‘What do you mean by vibration?’ Buffy asked.

‘Think of it as a different dimension and you have the gist of it.’ She said.

Buffy nodded absently. ‘Dawn.’

‘Well it seems to me the solution is obvious.’ Dean offered. ‘We just go to LA, kill this ‘Angel’ guy and problem solved.’

‘We’re not killing Angel.’ Buffy stated flatly.

‘No? Why not?’ Dean challenged.

‘Because, I said so.’ She shot back.

‘Look, we don’t have any idea what Angel is up to, but we need to find out. I can assure you he isn’t evil. You’re just going to have to trust me on that. It doesn’t matter what it looks like he’s doing, he’s making a play. Angel brought me the amulet because he wanted to help me win…’ she trailed off, doubt beginning to set in. She didn’t like where it was taking her. ‘How…how did Angel even end up working for an evil law firm!’ She yelled. ‘Had he really given up Angel Investigations? And he was what, a lawyer? God she was tired. How?’ she barked, again.

‘Well, in the beginning they tried to get to him through Cordelia. Then they tried to use you, but they were only successful when they used his son as leverage.’ Riley said, by way of explanation.

She blinked at Riley several times waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, she cocked her head at him as if to hear him better, and said, ‘Excuse me?’ because there was no way, she heard that correctly.

Riley shrugged at her not understanding what she wanted.

‘You said… his son.’ She said, exercising extreme control.

‘Yes, his son, Conner.’ Riley responded, frankly.

It was Samantha’s turn to groan.

‘What…son?’ Buffy said, coldly.

Sam put her hand on Riley’s and shook her head no.

Buffy exploded out of her chair. ‘Didn’t we just have a conversation about cookies? How can you have a conversation about cookies and completely fail to mention that you have a son? Further, HOW…does he even have a son? And further still, WHO…oh yes…who, did he have this son with? That’s the question isn’t it?’ she ranted, stalking back and forth in the confined space three steps at a time.

‘I thought the other one was your boyfriend.’ Dean blurted.

‘He was.’ Buffy snapped.

Dean was seriously confused. ‘If the other Vampire was your boyfriend, why would you have the cookie discussion with this Vampire?’

Buffy ceased her stalking and whipped back to glare at Dean. ‘You know about cookies?’

‘Psh…everyone knows about the cookie analogy.’ He scoffed.

‘None of that is important.’ Riley interrupted.

‘Maybe it isn’t to you…heh, but…’ she trailed off, nodding indignantly and resumed her stalking.

Dean thought it was pretty damn important too as he added, ‘He wouldn’t have the cookie discussion with her if he had gone all evil.’

Riley looked at Dean shaking his head and shooting him a grimace. ‘How would you know?’ he argued.

Dean shrugged at him, ‘I just do, man. Look at her. You don’t talk cookies with someone like her unless you plan on being there when they’re done.’

‘He’s saying he wouldn’t sabotage her now, Riley.’ Sam said, trying to get the conversation back on track since they’d completely lost the thread to discuss Buffy’s relationships.

‘What do you mean?’ Buffy questioned her, hotly.

‘I mean, that in all of the time lines it’s the same. It doesn’t make any sense that he would turn against you this time. Further, Angel has taken over Wolfram and Hart a full ten days before he was supposed to. This tells me the Circle thought they could get rid of both of you at the same time. The problem this time is that fact, or, at least I’m almost 100% certain, you changed things at the spur of the moment. Well, I mean, actually it was probably Spike that changed things, but the Circle, secure in the knowledge of Angel’s commitment to you…just went about their business.’

‘What does that have to do with Angel’s son and cookies.’ She barked.

‘Nothing.’ Sam answered, rationally.

‘We’ve always just assumed it would be Angel that would Shan Shu because of the prophecy. So…okay, stick with me now. There is a prophecy that says a Vampire with a soul will give his life to save the world and he will get to become human again. None of you had any way of knowing the amulet would kill Spike. You just thought it was a tool to help him win.’

‘Okay, fine, they weren’t going to talk about Angel’s son.’ she fumed.

‘At any rate, Spike closing the Hell Mouth has inadvertently changed the outcome of countless battles to be fought over the next fourteen years and apparently that’s a good thing for Lucifer because he is out of his cage in hell and running amuck through 2017. He’s actually sired the Anti-Christ who is little more than a teenager. In a snit, the kid has disappeared.’ Sam blurted out, finally losing her patience and being over it all. She was more than a little breathless and feeling like she was going to faint. ‘This is why we’re here. We need you to come with us and fight.’ She would deal with her husband’s anger later. Enough was enough. She had just dropped the whole parcel on the table for them to sift through. Now she needed some air and some food. Needed to get out of this room. ‘Now, are you in or what? Because we are out of fucking time.’

‘Lucifer…’ Sam-my repeated, having gone pale.

Samantha could see that she’d just lost all three of them in her desperation to get started.

‘I…need some time, I need to think, I need to talk to Giles.’ Buffy balked.

Samantha sighed heavily, got up and left the room.

Graham stepped in as she left and closed the door. 

Buffy, super agitated, tired and hungry, didn’t understand how any of this time travel thing worked and YES…okay fine, Angel has a son that they aren’t even going to talk about. All of the information she was given tornadoed around her head and she hated everything. Abruptly, it all came to a shuddering halt. Her body, tingling with hope and possibility, she turned to Riley and asked.

‘Hey! Why don’t we just…’

Riley clearly saw the place her thoughts had finally taken her and was shaking his head before she could finish the sentence. ‘It doesn’t work that way.’ Riley said softly, regret tinging his words. ‘We can’t change it.’

‘But…’ she began to argue.

‘Only the Powers can do that and they won’t.’ he said, thinking of all the time he wasted in the beginning trying to change things. ‘If one single thing goes wrong it will create a new ripple. Ripples are dangerous and we have to keep them to a minimum until we know we can win. The only place we can affect any real change is in our own present with the knowledge we gain. We have no idea what to expect when we get back because of what has happened already today.’

‘Then what are you doing here?’ Sam-my asked angrily.

‘Like I said before. I wanted you to meet us now. I can’t really tell you anything because it would change the outcome of too many things over the next decade. I can tell you that I did eventually get you some help, right after I learned about you. I can also tell you that right now in 2017 you are sitting in a cell waiting for me to get back. I can also tell you that after we leave here today, you won’t see us again until 2017. I can tell you that you both put up a hell of a fight today and my main motivation for bringing you here today is to avoid that in the future, as it was a huge waste of resources and time, which as you know, we’re nearly out of.’ He sniffed.

‘Also, we came to collect Buffy and Angel and take them back with us now, because we’re going to war soon. Unfortunately, acquiring Angel has suddenly become very problematic.’ He finished.

The door opened and Giles walked into the room. Samantha followed him.

‘He’s all caught up.’ She stated matter-of-factly. 

She gestured for Giles to take the seat next to Buffy.

He did. Then, pulled off his glasses and gave them a swipe. 

‘How can I help.’ He said, in his crisp British accent.


	5. Five

**Five**

**Nevada 2003**

Two hours after Giles had joined them, they were clear on the in’s and out’s, do’s and don’ts, minute intricacies, and finer points of time travel.

Mostly.

By the time Riley came to the end she was cooked and hadn’t cared anymore. The only way she was going to put her mind at rest about the whole thing was through action. She stood up, stretched her body, and declared, ‘I need a shower and some clean clothes. I can sleep on the plane, but I would really like some food before any of that. I can be ready to leave in two hours. Giles, you and Faith are in charge of the girls. I can’t put them in the field so soon after today.’ She said.

‘Whoa…whoa…Plane to where?’ Riley, stood using the universal had gesture to indicate she needed to stop.

‘We need to go to LA and talk with Angel.’ She answered reasonably.

‘We can’t just go barging into LA, Buffy.’ He countered.

‘Why not?’ she asked.

Riley shrugged exasperated and looked at his wife.

Sam and Dean, both nodding, were with Buffy. If there was evil to fight, get started.

‘Because if we announce our presence now, we will lose.’ He said, practically.

‘Oh, okay, no big, we can just call him and have him meet us somewhere.’ she countered.

‘We can’t call him. Harmony has instructions to screen all his calls.’ Riley explained.

‘Har…? You mean, Harmony works for Angel. You really know how to leave out the details. I thought you told us everything.' she accused. 'Obviously not.' She said, irritably adding, 'Leaving out Harmony and a son, is not telling us everything, Riley. Besides, I can handle Harmony.’

‘You’re not going to LA. You’re not calling LA.’ Riley said frankly.

‘You gonna stop me?’ She challenged.

‘If I have too.’ He replied. ‘What don’t you understand about being a mark?’

‘A wha…?’ she shook her head, confused.

‘A mark.’ He said again. ‘You have a price on your head. You're in danger. We're here to make sure that you don’t die before you can be of some use. You're not leaving this base until it's time.’ He said, ending the discussion.

‘Buffy…’ Giles interjected. ‘You aren’t thinking this through. If anyone should go to LA, it should be Faith. She would have a better chance of…’

‘No…’ Buffy answered stubbornly.

Giles huffed out a tired breath and pulled his glasses off to rub at his eyes.

‘Buffy, you should know, that once you're dead a few months from now, it's a free for all on those new Slayers. They don’t have teachers or Watchers or the Council. Thousands of young girls all over the world are going to die horrible, gruesome deaths. It’s a done deal.’ Riley explained ominously.

‘Fine.’ She answered, the stubbornly, ‘Faith still isn’t going and this isn’t the end of it. So, what’s your plan?’ 

‘Recon…for now.’ He answered. ‘Once we know more, we’ll make some decisions. We hoped to reach you both today before…before any of this, but as you know we were ten days late. Fortunately, we kind of know what’s going to happen next, but we’re not for sure.’

‘Fine, give me the basics…short version.’ She’d insisted.

‘It’s always a variation of the same thing. Angel shows up, helps you defeat the First and goes back to LA to fight evil. Three months later you and Dawn are dead. However, the whole, 'Sunnydale is a crater' thing, is new.’ He explained.

‘Okay…’ She relented. ‘I get it, but I’m telling you, I know what evil Angel feels like and trust me…he’s not.’ She said with authority.

Riley pulled another phone out of his vest and slid it across the table toward Sam-my, ‘I'm leaving this with you. I'll use it to get in touch when it’s time. Keep it safe. We're going to need you and you're going to need us. I have someone waiting to take you home now.’

Everyone stood up.

‘Don’t forget…May 2017. Be on the alert for us.’ Riley said, again.

With that the meeting was over.

Buffy was taken to a small kitchen where she’d finally had some food. She didn’t remember what it was. After food, she had a shower and while washing the blood off her body she had herself a good cry. When she was done, they took her to her family. They were in a large, cold, grey room that she had no way to describe. 'Bleak maybe? Was it a bunk room?’ she wondered. It was a large, full of bunk beds, but there were also round tables with metal chairs. There was a huge TV on the wall, but it wasn't on. There wasn't a soft place in the room except for the mattresses and she held serious doubts about their softness. After walking into the room, she realized that she hadn’t even asked Riley where they were. She only knew they were in the desert. She didn’t even know if they were still in California. She sighed, feeling stupid. At least she was able to tell them they wouldn’t be in this room for long.

Standing in the doorway, her people stared owlishly. After a moment she pulled in a breath trying to decide where to get started. Probably, ‘Sorry gang, it was all for nothing, I didn’t know we were in an Apocalypse twofer…my bad,’ shouldn’t be it. She shook her head knowing she couldn’t do it to them and having made that decision, she sucked it up and deflected. ‘The way it’s been explained to me,’ she started, ‘Is we're staying here tonight. In the morning we will be moved to comfier accommodations.’

Kennedy’s hand had shot into the air almost before she could finish the sentence and not waiting to be acknowledged she started asking questions.

‘I’m not taking questions right now.’ Buffy said, when the questions stopped. Kennedy was going to be a good Slayer, but she was so damn annoying. ‘Tomorrow, after the move, we'll have a…Slayer meeting. I'll bring you up to speed about where we go from here, at that time. What you need to know about tonight is this, we're on an Army base. We're being detained here for the time being. We're not at liberty to move through the base as we please at this time. Pretty much, we're confined to this area until we're told otherwise. Understand?’ she asked, and wondered when she started using Army speak.

All she’d got back in answer was nods.

She thought she ought to say, 'thank you,' or 'good job,' or 'glad you made it,' but at the time, she just couldn’t manage it. All she really wanted was to lay down and sleep, but there was no way Dawn was going to let her get away with that.

‘That’s it for now. Dismissed.’ She said. Everyone stayed put and stared at her. It was unnerving. ‘Faith, Willow, Xander, and Dawn…Giles and I want to see you please.’ Buffy said, hoping that would get the others moving, then turned to go back out the same door she had come through.

Opening the door snapped the guard to attention. ‘Ma’am. Is there something I can do for you?’

‘I need to have a private conversation. We're going to have it out here.’ she answered, looking over her shoulder at her family, gesturing for them to come out into the hallway.

‘Yes, Ma'am.’ The soldier said and stepped away letting them through the door.

Kennedy was with Willow. She had a death grip on her hand. She started forward into the hallway, but Buffy said, ‘Not you, Kennedy. I need to talk to my family and I'd prefer for you to wait until the Slayer meeting to get your information with the rest of the girls.’ she said, pointedly. 

Kennedy’s mouth had dropped open in protest, but she didn't get an opportunity to voice her objection. Willow shrugged away from her, pecked a kiss on Kennedy’s mouth and stepped through the door. The new Slayer fumed as the door closed, leaving her out of the discussion.

‘That girl takes entirely to many liberties.’ Buffy thought, catching Faith’s eye. 

Faith, reading the expression on Buffy's face, nodded her understanding. Buffy didn’t have a problem acknowledging Kennedy was Willow’s girlfriend. She did have a problem with the fact Kennedy felt her relationship with Willow entitled to inner circle information.

‘Girl survives one Apocalypse and thinks she’s all that.’ Buffy complained to herself. 

Kennedy rubbed Buffy the wrong way from day one and she didn't want to deal with the girl in any capacity right now. She didn't know what it was about her that Willow was so attracted to. Kennedy, certainly wasn’t Tara and she sure as hell wasn’t Oz,’ but for some reason she made Willow happy enough. 'That should be enough for you to accept the girl.' Buffy chastised herself, but she just couldn't get around her abrasive attitude. 'And that's it isn't.' she thought to herself again, 'Kennedy was Heather Duke! The most obnoxious Heather of them all.' 

‘Well, at least I got that sorted out.’ She rolled her eyes at herself. 

Willow threw her arms around Buffy and hugged her fiercely. The rest followed, huddling into a tight cluster, strengthening each other through shared grief and love for one another. Even Faith relented, joining in. Since leaving Sunnydale early in day, this was their first opportunity to be alone with each other. The first moments in weeks when no one was dying or being kidnapped while waiting for the next thing to go sideways. They were alone, they were together, and the numbness of shock was worn away. Grief settled over them like a blanket, making itself comfortable. Their guard had enough sense understand what was happening and stepped away, in search of a box of tissues. He returned as they began peeling away from the huddle. Thanking him, they wiped away the tears collecting themselves.

When the sniffling subsided, Buffy and Giles ‘explained’ and the anger set it. 

*******

The morning after Sunnydale dawned bright, glaring actually, too early, and sweltering hot. After something the Initiative called breakfast, they were herded back onto trucks and driven into the desert, blessedly arriving at the professed ‘comfier’ accommodation, before they could melt. It was miserably hot and what the Initiative considered comfy, was the polar opposite of what the rest of humanity knew it to be. The best that could be said, was they were finally able to spread out after weeks of living on top of one another. The housing they were using looked like an actual neighborhood, albeit deserted. It reminded Buffy of similar housing on an episode of the X-Files. Eight, average size, single story block houses, formed a square around a central courtyard, featuring a pavilion. There wasn’t any vegetation to speak of within the square, but the entire complex was covered by sand colored camouflage netting, attached to 30-foot poles and hoisted into the air. The netting mimicked a circus tent, hitting a peak, then falling to the ground and enclosing a space roughly the size of a football field. Surprisingly, it did decent job of shielding and shading the living area from the beating sun. Or possibly satellites. Probably both.

Piling out of the Humvee’s with ill grace, the battered and bruised band clustered around the picnic tables and benches, in the centrally located pavilion. Buffed agreed wholeheartedly when Willow loudly thanked the Goddess for the huge ceiling fans keeping the air under the pavilion moving. The group stood under the fans; arms outstretched letting the breeze dry the sweat from their clothing. Eventually, everyone found a seat and Sam, Riley taking up the position behind her, filled them in on their new digs. Each ‘accommodation’ had three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, living room, laundry room, and patio. Until further notice, they were to ‘bunk up and await orders.’

At that, Faith reminded ‘Wifey’ they, ‘Weren’t enlisted and the only person they took orders from, was B.’

Sam agreed, amending her statement saying, ‘…until such time as we knew more about the situation.’

Faith, satisfied, nodded and took her seat once more. Sam went on to explain Buffy would personally receive a daily ‘brief’ from Riley or herself, then pass on the information.

‘For now, this is the best we can do to ensure your safety.’ Sam parroted. ‘The places are fully equipped and furnished…stocked. Get a list together for special requests and I will see what can be done. Until then, try to make the best of it.’ She finished with a solemn nod, then ‘Dismissed.’

No one moved.

Buffy nodded to Faith.

Faith stood up, ‘Dismissed.’

Buffy had to hand it to the girls… 'Slayers.' It was a hard lesson, but they learned it nonetheless.

That however, was twelve weeks ago. 

Since then, the most serious thing she dealt with on a daily basis was keeping Giles record collection from melting in the heat, and the new Slayer bickering and melt downs.

‘Lots and lots of melting.’ She thought, rolling over angrily wrapping her pillow around her head.

The sun was barely up and they were already at it. The walls were so flimsy, the entire house had to be vacuumed every time the wind blew. Last week she sent Faith, because it was her turn, to squash the third insurrection. The first came on day three of being out here with no television, books, phones, or anyway to deal with the heat and monotony of the days and nights. Much the same as today, she woke to Cho Anne next door, screaming at her house mates in Mandarin. That morning she rolled out of bed, marched out her door, across the yard, and barged into the Noobs house without even knocking. Once inside she completely flaked, taking our all of her anger and frustration on the Noobs without even knowing the issue at hand. 

‘There’s a lot more to get through ya know! So, just chill!’ she began, ‘You are the biggest bunch of crybabies ever! You this! You that! You want! You need! Why, why, why? Shut-up! Do you think this is pleasant for anyone? I'm tired of listening to your incessant whining! SO, SHUT-UP!’

When she was finished, she spun on her heel, hair flying out in her wake, and slammed out of the house, leaving its occupants shocked and silent. Grumbling about her own behavior, she stomped regretfully back into her own house, slamming the door and putting an exclamation point on her own frustration by shrieking, fists balled at her sides and stomping her feet. Realizing as she did, it was the most she had said to anyone in the previous three days.

‘But still!’ she said, trying to justify it to herself.

As far as she was concerned, she gave her last speech before leaving for the Hell Mouth and wasn’t at all concerned to be dictating anyone's behavior. ‘Those girls are Slayers now and they need to act like it!’ She thought, still trying to justify her own behavior all the while knowing Giles had put up with that kind of whining from her. 

‘And’ she reminded herself, ‘did it with far more grace…’

Giles dealt with her by keeping her focused. Centered. Scheduled. He helped her through her fear. Had given her confidence when she was unable to believe in herself. Maybe, if she was doing her job, the ‘Noobs wouldn’t be acting like such big babies.’ She chastised. ‘Crap…’

That was how Faith found her. Bent over, hands on her knees, muttering ‘Crap…’ The Slayer hadn’t commented, but the smirk she wore spoke volumes. Faith had simply turned around and walked back out the door. Several hours later, she was back, schedule in hand. The day after that, the training regimen was implemented. They were too tired to complain after that.

Order restored.

Even so, twelve weeks was a long time to be out here doing nothing except training.

Case in point.

She rolled out of the bed, went to her front door, jerked it open and simply yelled, ‘SHUT UP!’

The silence was immediate. She slammed the door and made for the shower.

From his room, Giles mumbled, ‘Thank you.’

She grinned, ‘You’re welcome.’ Then stripped her clothes off and started her day.

Riley, in LA since the day he dropped her off out here was true to his word. Everyday he contacted her with an update, either calling himself or leaving it to Sam who had made a habit of coming out each day to have lunch with her and drop off supplies. Sometimes Faith and Giles would sit in on this lunch as well. During one of these lunches, Buffy explained enough time had passed for Angel to begin feeling ‘couped up.’ Giles and Faith backed her up on this when she said, ‘Expect him to go out on patrol soon. If he hasn’t been out of the building, he’s going to be restless. Trust me. I know him. Trust us.’ She said, gesturing back and forth between herself, Faith and Giles.

Sam passed the information along and sure enough, Riley almost had him. Angel saved a girl. Before send her on her way and Riley could make his move, a freakish entourage of lawyers and handlers showed up and the entire snatch and grab had to be scrapped. This act alone should have confirmed Angel hadn’t gone over to the ‘dark side,’ but apparently, it wasn’t.

During one their lunches, Buffy realized Sam was actively befriending her. They were having lunch alone that day and Sam revealed she was pregnant, asking her to keep it quiet. So, things went in rhythmic synchronicity and friendship, until a few days ago when she gave Buffy the news they waited all these weeks for.

Angel in fact had not sold out to the Circle, ‘Duh…’ but through a series of truly terrible events it was clear that he had pressed the self-destruct button. Riley needed Andrew, not her, Andrew of all people to get into the building, but it worked. She hadn’t seen Andrew since. Sam assured her he was fine, but wouldn’t elaborate.

Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel and pulled on her robe. She pulled open the bathroom door to find Giles and Faith with Sam in the living room. Pulling her lips together in question, eyebrows asking the same Sam answered with, ‘Time to go. Pack up and be ready to roll in two hours.’

‘You have him?’ Buffy blurted.

Sam didn’t answer.

‘This…not answering me, stops today.’ She said, authority ringing in the space between them.

Sam grimaced in answer, then left.

‘That’s…just, great.’ She said, to Faith and Giles, gesturing at the door. ‘Did she tell you anything?’

‘Same as you, B.’ Faith answered, moving for the door.

Giles simply shook his head and went to him room.

‘Okay then. Let’s go to the future.’ She snorted, glad no one heard her say that.

It didn't take them long to pack and soon after they were assembled at the pavilion, trucks arrived packing them back to the main Base. Spending the rest of the day in a ‘state of readiness’ with the assumption Riley's mission was going to fail, grated on not just hers, but everyone’s nerves.

‘In a holding pattern.’ Sam had called it.

Thankfully, the waiting was nearly over.

She was ready to get off this base and get back in the fight. Eleven weeks of non-stop training had turned the whiney crybabies into a bunch of bad ass Slayers. As much as she disliked Kennedy, the girl knew how to kick some ass. The Noobs were going to be amazing Slayers, despite the silly nickname. It was fated the new Slayers would be called Noobs. Kennedy hated it and that amused her. She told herself to ‘Stop being petty’ and changed the subject while she waited. With a heavy sigh, she checked the time again. She didn’t know why she was in such a hurry. Things were changing rapidly enough as it was. The nature of time was change and over the last twelve weeks she learned what you could and couldn’t do with it.

‘Still don’t understand if it’s fluid and changing why it has boundaries.’ She sulked, looking over her shoulder. 

Twenty minutes ago, she got her first look (maybe it was her first look) at the time-machine. She didn’t think much of it. ‘Looks like a carnival ride.’ She thought. You know the one. Disc shaped and holds you in place with centrifugal force. They, (her, Faith, and Giles) were standing outside the machine waiting. Everyone else was inside, having been taken a few at a time to get strapped in. Sam pulled a disappearing act after coming out to tell them to pack. They had been here most of the day and she hadn’t seen her. Questions as to her whereabouts, went unanswered.

‘Yeah. Today. Done with the whole ‘not answering question’s’ thing.’ She grouched, leaning against the handrail bordering the steps leading into the machine.

Giles was sitting on a crate of books and Faith was smoking. It was disgusting and smelly. 

Finishing up, she dropped the offending object on the floor, ground it out with the heel of her boot and turning to go inside said, ‘See you on the other side.’

Giles nodded then glanced at Buffy. 

‘I'm going to use the bathroom. See you in a sec.’ she said in answer to his questioning glance.


	6. Six

**Six**

**Somewhere On A Back Road In Middle America : 2017**

The 1967 black, Chevy Impala Dean called Baby, flew along the cool damp pavement at well over the posted speed limit. He tapped out the staccato beat of the song blasting through the classic cars enormously expensive stereo system. Sam bobbed his head and mumbled along with the lyrics. It was one of their favorites.

‘They call me the breeze. I keep rolling down the road…well now they call…’

Music always helped get them in the right frame of mind while working a case. As it was now, they were desperate for the distraction this particular case was providing.

Sam, dazedly pondered the recent mishaps while staring out the window. Having utterly failed to retrieve Mom and Jack from the alternate reality they were sucked into, they needed not just to work, they needed a win. It wasn’t simply that they failed, but they had to be saved by Jody and the girls. As if failing their objective and needing to be rescued wasn’t bad enough, Kaia was killed during the effort. Neither he or Dean were dealing with it. Business as usual that, but this was worse. This was like Bobby…because, ‘It’s mom and Jack.’ He took a shuddering breath tried not to think of the dark place they were in and how it seemed as if lately, everything they touched turned to crap. The aftermath generally saw a reprieve, but not this time. This time, they were batted right back into play.

‘We’re tired.’ He allowed, trying to push past his grief.

So tired of putting a brave face on…everything… for a long damn time now. Dean was suffering over Mom and he was suffering over Jack. He suffered over Mom as well, but he had hope they were going to get her back. He hadn’t given up on that yet, not the way Dean had. The only way to get Dean through this, was to work. So, when he came across this case, he jumped on it.

Someone was murdering witches and they just discovered who it was. They saw Arthur Fix, clear as day on the CCTV feed Sam hacked into less than an hour ago. Shortly afterward, Daniella, knowing who they were, approached them on the street begging for help. The only way to get a jump on the situation, was to jump in with both feet. Daniella, was now riding silently along in the back seat. Going to a safe house tucked back in the woods along the outskirts of town was the only plan they had. Thankfully, the area witches kept it for emergencies, such as this.

The song on the ancient mixtape changed as they pulled into the dirt driveway of a small, white, clapboard house.

‘Gonna catch that train at midnight, I don’t care where it’s going…’

The song ended abruptly as Dean put Baby in park and turned off the engine. Sitting in the shady dimness surrounding the house for several minutes, they waited, listening to the woods around them. Sam was alert, but still lost in thoughts of the past while Jessica’s sweet face rolled through his mind. He thought about her a lot lately. It took a while for him to puzzle out why she was so present in his thoughts and dreams of late. It came to him eventually. It was just before he moved in with her, that the ‘event’ they didn’t talk about occurred.

Abducted, right out of the house. Woke up on the floor of a Humvee, next to an unconscious Dean. Flown to, then locked up in a military facility for several hours. He remembered being certain that day was going to end with all three of them going to a federal penitentiary. He hadn’t seen his father or brother in a couple of years at that point. Instead, he ended up partaking in one of the most ridiculous conversations he ever had in his life. Hadn’t thought about it in years until a few weeks ago.

Torture, possession, death, trauma, all of those things tend to make a person lose track of things they never put much stock in anyway. Further, there was never even so much as a whiff of those soldiers again. It was 2017. It was already half over. Not a hide nor hair of the ‘Initiative.’

After getting back to LA, there was classes. Dean left. All thoughts of the Initiative and some mythical future faded from their minds. Then, dad went missing, Jess was murdered and, in the chaos, ruling their lives, they simply went to work killing demons.

Dean kept the phone for a long time and even though it was there, they never discussed it. The phone went in the trash the day Dean resigned himself to the reality Sam wasn’t going to get away from Lucifer. He cleaned out Baby, parked her in the garage, threw the phone in the trash and took up the domestic life, never looking back…mostly.

Satisfied they were alone, Dean opened his door and got out of the car. Sam and Daniella followed. She unlocked the door and they entered the tiny, one room space. Kitchen, table, bed. Looked like it had last seen an update in the 40’s. Desperate for a good cleaning.

Once settled, Sam said, ‘Okay, we trust you about as much as you trust us and we followed you here, so what’s going on?’ he spoke plainly.

Daniella explained. Dean as usual required proof. Daniella pulled the scarf she was wearing away from her neck to reveal horrible, deep, slashes all around her throat, and explained.

‘This, is how he tortures you. Slow cuts, with a red-hot knife.’

Dean was convinced and asked, ‘Did he have a British accent?’

‘Yeah, why? Do you know…’ Daniella trailed off.

Sam pulled a phone from his jacket, ‘Is this him?’

‘Yes.’ She confirmed, babbled a few more sentences ending with, ‘No one can know where I am.’

Dean, pulling a plan together, disagreed, ‘Hmmm, well, about that…I was thinking the opposite.’

As darkness fell, they lit the house up like it was Christmas and Dean had Daniella make a few calls to let friends know where she was hiding and she was okay. The trap was set. The only thing left to do, was wait.

At 9PM on the dot, a tear gas canister clattered down the chimney, into the house. Fix burst through the door seconds later with a machine gun and gas mask, shooting the place all to hell. Shortly after, in the silence, he comically grabbed for the tranquilizer dart, protruding from his neck, then fell to the floor. While Sam and Dean were distracted with the job of getting Fix trussed up, three new players dressed head to toe in black combat gear, surged into the room.

The boys, expecting only Fix, were caught completely unaware. One black clad figure produced a glow stick and waved it at them. Dean pursed his mouth, lifted a skeptical brow, and prepared to say something smart assed and witty, but he never got the chance.

The brothers and the witch hit the ground much the same way Fix had.

While trussing up the brothers another Humvee roared into the yard.

‘What about the witch?’ Was asked.

‘Bring her, we may need her.’ Was the answer.

‘Call command, tell them we’re en-route.’ Was the command.

The entire operation was over in minutes. Brothers were dumped into the transport, keys to the sweet ass car were dug from the pocket, seconds later they were racing away. The only thing left on site was Fix.

Simultaneously, First Sergeant Dixon watched the incoming satellite feed of the park, several blocks away, from the safety of the Mobile Command Unit. Bravo, liberally positioned throughout said park, waited. Dixon was certain the angel was going to show and he was right. Castiel approached the sandbox that cleverly disguised the door to Heaven. The drone Dixon sent out hovered high overhead. Dialing in, he picked up the conversation happening between the two angels. Castiel was asking the angel he called Duma, if she had seen Jack. Duma referred to the Anti-Christ as a Nephilim and replied that she hadn’t.

‘First Sergeant…’ Goodman said, drawing his attention.

Suddenly two more angels appeared in the sandbox.

‘Shit.’ He swore.

‘First Sergeant.’ Goodman said, again.

‘What is it?’ Dixon gritted, not taking his eyes from the screen.

‘We have Homeless wandering into the arena.’ Goodman informed him.

Making decisions at light speed, Dixon calmly said into his mic,

‘Move on my go.’

He keyed off his mic and waited a beat more.

‘Mark…’

The angels in the sand box moved aggressively to take Castiel.

‘Go.’ Dixon commanded.

The small playground filled with soldiers.

‘Down…’ Dixon commanded once again.

The soldiers dropped to one knee on cue.

‘…and strike.’ Dixon said.

The homeless, just walking into the clearing, took in the scene and began to yell a warning, but it was too late. The large metal tube struck the ground and everyone in a 50-yard radius not kneeling, fell to the ground. Castiel was rushed from all sides, Jackson made it just as the angel was beginning to stir. Touched the bright blue wand to the angel’s temple, he was out for good. Well, long enough to transport him anyway, but they had to hurry.

Jackson hauled the angel over his shoulder and double timed it out of the park. Thankfully, the Humvee was hauling ass toward him. He didn’t want to use the wand any more than necessary. It was a good tool, but its power made him nervous. He just used it to ‘Knock out an angel for Christ…ugh, Pete, for Pete sake.’ Jackson rounded the end of the transport, dumped Castiel in, and climbed in after him. After he was seated, he banged on the side of the truck, signaling it to go. Rafferty tore off like a bat out of hell and within minutes, they rendezvoused with Mobile Command. Mobil Command masqueraded as a Boars Head deli truck while canvassing the quiet town the last few days. Moments after that, the angel was safe in containment. They could all breathe a bit easier. For a few minutes at least. Dixon called in to report the success they’d had.

He was informed the Winchesters, picked up the night before, were already on base. Orders were, get back to base ASAP as countdown was in progress. Dixon responded in the affirmative. He began to place the call to bring the rest of the team in when his phone rang.

‘Dixon…’ he said, answering.

‘First Sergeant, Little Red Riding Hood is complete.’ Was the response from the other end.

‘Excellent. Head back to rendezvous double time. Clock’s started. We won’t wait if you’re late.’

‘Copy that, First Sergeant. Brown, out.’


	7. Seven

**Seven**

**Los Angeles 2003**

‘Personally, I wanna slay the dragon.’ Angel blinked rain from his eyes, pulled his sword to his shoulder and crouched into battle position.

Gathered in the alleyway behind the Hyperion where Angel Investigations used to reside, the four of them waited, while the demon horde unleashed by the Senior Partners advanced at a saunter. Taking their time, they called out menacing threats, and generally taunted the Vampire with descriptions of what they would do with him when they had him. Torture. Intending for it to last. Fine by him. That had to get him first.

‘Bring it on assholes!’ he taunted back. He was so ready to go Berserker on their asses. 

Illyria threw her head back and laughed, feeding off his violent energy. She stood shoulder to shoulder with him, bringing her fists forward, prepared to fight to the death beside him. Anticipation of the great battle ahead radiated through her. She nearly glowed with excitement. She hadn't been to war in an eon and she was going to enjoy this death immensely. She hated what this world had become and couldn’t think of a better way to end her suffering than in the heat of battle. 

Spike, clenched his jaw, throwing caution to the wind and followed the others. He didn’t have anything to live for anymore and anyway, he already died once this year.

‘Bloody bring it on, you Wankers!’ he yelled, adding his voice to Angel’s. 

Gunn, fell to the ground behind them. He wasn't long for this world and he knew it. His injury could probably be healed, but it was painful. There was no way he could fight with it. He closed his eyes and made his peace, knowing he was going to be dead in a few minutes. 

Suddenly over the cacophony Angel inexplicably heard Connor’s voice.

‘Angel! Angel! Dad!’ the boy shouted as loud as he could.

Angel cast an incredulous glance behind him to see his teen-age son standing on the other side of the fence in the alleyway. The boy was with what could only be described as an army, dressed entirely in ‘ninja like’ flat black riot gear. Meaning flack vests, helmets with full face shields and assault weapons.

Nonplussed, he yelled, ‘Connor! I told you to go home! What are you doing here?’ 

‘Dad, you have to come with me now!’ Connor commanded, gesturing frantically toward the end of the alleyway.

Abruptly, the 12-foot-high chain link fence between them slid with a crash to the ground. The ninjas with his son surged forward to take up flanking positions.

Angel turned away ignoring them. ‘Kinda busy here, Son! Get out of here right now! You’re going to get yourself killed!’ He demanded over his shoulder, then resolved to keep his eyes on the horde.

‘It’s over, Dad! Look at Gunn! You have to come with me now!’ he screamed.

Despite his stubborn resolve, Angel looked at Gunn. The man was in bad shape. Deep down he knew Gunn wasn’t going to make it out of this alley alive. 'Hell! None of us are going to make it out of this alley alive. That was the entire point!’ he raged, itching to kill demons.

He hardened his heart against Gunn over Fred. Held the man responsible and didn't really give a damn if he lived or died. Didn't care if any of them lived or died at this point, but Connor was here now and refusing to leave. It made him apprehensive, indecisive, unable to focus. Already he wasted too much time arguing instead of planning where to start slicing heads. None of that would do in the midst of this kind of battle. He was ready to die and take some of these bastards out while he was doing it, but he couldn’t do that with his son here. Sure, the kid was a hell of a fighter, but he wouldn't wager Connors survival on Spike, Illyria, and himself. Everything was happening so fast. There wasn't time to debate it. Two of the ninja's wrapped their arms around Gunn, sprawled on the pavement. With difficulty, they hauled the big man off the ground.

‘Hey! Where d’you think yer taking him?’ Spike shouted at them as they jerked Gunn mobile. 

Gunn groaned in pain. Both soldiers paused to stare at Spike a moment, then glanced at each other. Turning their attention back to Gunn, then began dragging him toward the end of the alley. 

Spike blinked at Angel in confusion. He shrugged, deciding practically, ‘Later then.’ Following it up with, ‘Come on, ya know we can’t win here and look, they’ve got Charlie Boy.’ He motioned toward the retreating soldiers.

Illyria placed her bright blue hand on Angel’s arm effectively breaking the magnetic hold the advancing horde and coming battle had on him. He really wanted to kick some of that demon ass.

‘They have it coming to them.’ He swore bitterly, realizing his rage was getting the better of him.

‘Angel…’ Illyria prompted, recognizing the stubborn set of his jaw for what it was. Battle-lust. ‘I want vengeance for Wesley, but let’s get it on a better field.’ she pressed. Nothing would have made Illyria happier to stay there and brawl to the death, but her death did have to mean something. She nodded at him convincingly.

‘AGH!’ he screamed down the length of the ally, cords of muscle bulging in his neck.

He needed payback for both Fred and Wesley. He wasn’t going to get it by dying in the next ten minutes. Staring furiously into the aqua blue eyes of the demi-god that had stolen Winifred’s body from her, he reluctantly nodded his agreement. The decision made, they turned and fled the horde. The horde gave chase in earnest, roaring its fury as it gained on them.

Drizzling rain and falling ashes made for slick pavement. Spike nearly lost his footing, running full bore for the end of the alley. Connor was there waiting.

‘GO!’ Angel screamed, gesturing frantically to get him moving.

The boy scrambled into the truck as the trio reached him.

The dragon circling high above the Hyperion, spewed flames, across the already fully engulfed building and down the alley. Spike flung himself into the back of the truck, narrowly missing the inferno. The dragon would have to circle back before it could try again. The rain had intermittently soaked the city throughout the day, but the streets and buildings burned freely all around them thanks to the dragon.

Thankfully, downtown was deserted. It was the only thing saving people.

Truly running for their lives, the Humvee’s raced through the empty streets. Without warning, a massive explosion rocked the area around them, the vehicle lurched and nearly tumbled from the combination of shock wave, wet pavement, and taking a corner at breakneck speed. Spiked had watched as from the Humvee behind them, a rocket launcher appeared, took aim and blew the dragon to pieces. He stared in morbid fascination as flaming chunks of the massive creature tumbled from the sky. The noise it made raining down on the pavement was disgusting.

The Humvee went into another lurching slide, rounding the last corner off of the city streets and barreled down the ramp to the I-10 west bound to Santa Monica. At the end of the ramp, a tide of small pixie-like demons ran toward the trucks, screaming a war cry that sounded like the air being slowly let out of a balloon.

The driver didn't stop.

Demon pixies crawled all over the Humvee in seconds, the audible crunch and thump of those that fell under the truck's wheels was sickening. They peeled pixie demons off the Humvee, throwing their little bodies back into the street as fast as they could. The little bastards had several rows of pointy teeth like sharks and Spikes jacket was covered with them while he feverishly worked to keep them off the unconscious Gunn. Several miles down the road, the crunching stopped. They were only dealing with the clingers now.

Angel and Connor swept the demons from Spikes back just as he snatched two more, who were gnawing at Gunn's wound, off the fallen man's body. Neither of the little piranha's cared to be dragged away from their meal. One sunk its teeth into Spike's hand. He bellowed indignantly and throwing the one not biting him into the street. Wrenching the biters teeth out of his hand he grabbed it by its legs then, with every ounce of strength his body held, he slammed the tiny body into the floor of the truck. Slimy insides were forced outside and the putrid smelling gore splashed all over the ninja suited soldiers. A devil may care smile split his face as they flinched away. Carelessly, he snatched the broken body from the floor then tossed it over his shoulder. It splatted on the pothole ridden asphalt as the Humvee continued to rocket down the mostly deserted freeway.

Now that the action was over, Angel grabbed Connor and shook the boy. ‘What were you thinking! What are you doing here? You could've been killed!’ he shouted into his face. Then, relief pouring through him, he pulled his son into a smothering embrace. 

Connor let it happen, reveling in the rare contact, smiling. Staying there a bit longer than the moment required. Eventually, when the awkwardness set in, he squirmed out of his father’s arms. Angel, lifted an eyebrow, expecting an answer to his question now. Connor, seeing that his father was seriously angry, wished he could go back to hugging.

Stammering, he gestured to the ninja’s and began, ‘Well, see…’ 

Riley took off his helmet. He really should be the one to explain what was going on.

The moment his helmet came off, Spike demanded, ‘What the bloody hell are you doing here?’

‘No. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be dead.’ Riley countered.

‘Long story,’ Spike said conversationally, ‘You see…’

‘Spike…shut up.’ Angel barked, shifting his attention to Riley. Taking over the questioning, he ground out stiffly, ‘What are you doing here and why did you bring my son into the middle of a war with a demon horde.’

‘You know Captain Cardboard?’ Spike scoffed.

Presently, the fact Angel knew Riley took precedence over ‘a son’ in Spike's mind.

Riley’s jaw ticked at Spike’s name for him.

Angel cast a quelling glance at Spike, ‘Yes.’ He gritted, through thinly veiled rage. Turning to glare at Riley once more, he gave him a thorough looking over, taking in the boyish face and large frame. He definitely still wanted to kill him. ‘Probably shouldn’t. She wouldn’t like it.’ he thought. It irritated him.

In a flash, his memory played out the scene between him and... 'what's his name' the last time they had occasion to meet. First in a Sunnydale alley, surrounded by dead soldier boys. Then again, at Buffy’s dorm. He had wanted to rip the kid’s head off and kick across the quad. Spike pulled him out of his thoughts, which was probably a good thing. 

‘Poncey git.’ Spike sneered at Riley, choosing a side. ‘I never understood it.’ 

‘Dad, you need to listen.’ Connor interrupted, demanding Angel’s attention.

‘Fine. What’s going on?’ Angel humored his son. Pulling his unapproving gaze from ‘Captain Cardboard’ he wondered ‘Why can’t I remember the guy’s name? Ricky? Ronny? Robby?’ He left it for now, giving Connor his full attention, quietly admitting to himself he was relieved his son was here and unscathed.

Connor began explaining, ‘Well, it’s the beginning of the end of the world. If we're going to save it, we can’t die in an alley fighting an inconsequential demon horde, Dad’ he scolded.

‘There was that word again, Dad.’ Spike puzzled over it but didn't ask, surprising himself.

Riley set his helmet aside and pulled off his gloves. ‘We’ve been trying to reach you for months, Angel. Unfortunately, we’ve been prevented from contacting you during each attempt’ he began.

‘Well, you’ve reached me. Explain.’ Angel snapped.

‘Basically, taking out the Circle this evening started The Apocalypse.’ He said, without preamble.

‘What! Another one?’ Spike exclaimed, incredulous. ‘I’m not wearing the shiny do-dad this time. You can forget it, yeah.’ He complained crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly, making his refusal plain for all to see. ‘Don’t care what was at stake. Angel can have the hero cup. Fat lot of good it did me. Demon horde chasing us.’ He pointed at the horde, thundering down the freeway. ‘New Apocalypse! We’re not even done cleaning up from the last one yet.’ 

‘Shut-up, Spike.’ Angel said again, then demanded of, what’s his name. 'Explain better...’

Losing patience with the situation all together, rage echoed through him. This wasn’t an apocalypse; this was a temper tantrum. Buffy and Spike averted the Apocalypse and The Partners murdered Fred because of it. Tonight, he was getting some payback. Payback is not an apocalypse. If ‘Cardboard’ didn’t start making sense soon… The thought that he was replaced in Buffy’s affections by this…guy. Distracting herself with Spike, he could deal with. It wasn’t easy, but she wasn’t…couldn’t, be serious. Not about Spike! It was ludicrous. Cardboard though, she was serious about him. That had his demon screaming for the whelp’s blood, again. 

‘The events of this evening have started The Apocalypse.’ Riley began again.

‘Yeah, you said that. Tell me something you haven’t said yet.’ Angel said, forcibly pulling his thoughts away from tearing the guys throat out. ‘Say something that explains why you would endanger my son. Something that explains why you would come to LA and pull me out of a fight that frankly, I’d been looking forward to. And, and… Where are we going?’ He finished, exasperated by the face he was the only one doing any talking. Everyone stared at Cardboard.

‘Airport,’ Riley said, answering the easiest question first.

Angel growled low in his throat, leaned forward and barely kept himself still.

Cardboard just exceeded the limits of his patience.

Riley, correctly sensing he was in imminent danger, talked fast, ‘I ‘hauled’ you out of that fight, because you were about to die and I need you to help me save the world. This isn’t an apocalypse. It’s ‘The Apocalypse.’ In caps. The Partners have had their fill of you. Your time is up. They're no longer willing to play the game with you. They want your dust. I don’t want them to win. So, we came to get you.’ Riley explained, a bit cocky as he finished.

‘Why did you have to drag Connor into it? I might kill you for that alone.’ Angel yelled pointedly.

More because he was angry than to be heard. Also, he just realized Riley knew about Connor.

‘Two reasons. First, it was the only way I could be sure to get your attention and ensure getting you out of that alley. Second, if I hadn’t, Connor would be dead right now. He was First on their list and then you. Not just that, before the night is over, most of LA will be destroyed. There's nothing we could have done to stop it.' he explained.

The Humvee veered hazardously off of the freeway onto National Boulevard, not bothering to stop for lights, cars or pedestrians. The few cars on the road in Santa Monica took notice of the Army vehicles first, then the horde of demons pursing. All the traffic surrounding them, began to pick up speed. It was every man for himself. The convoy of Humvee’s swerved in and out through and around the traffic at speeds that would be deadly if there was the smallest mistake. The occupants of the truck held on while the driver weaved in and out of the traffic. Eventually, the civilians moved to the inside lanes, giving the Humvee’s the outside lanes. At the end of the street a dead forced them to turn. The driver barely let off the gas, the tires squealing as he banked left, making the turn. 

Riley banged on the roof of the truck, 'Wrong way!' he yelled.

'Trust me Commander!' the driver yelled back.

At once, there was a deafening bellow from behind. Turning their attention toward it, they saw the horde was almost on them again. It swarmed over buildings, across roadways, unhampered by the movement restrictions the convoy of Humvee’s had to navigate. The driver yanked the truck hard to the right, over the curb and sidewalk, through a chain link fence that went flying over their heads. Ducking instinctively, the fence landed on the hood of the cover vehicle behind them, getting caught up in the Humvee’s wheels. Sparks flew from the chain link slowing them down. The gun mounted in the bed of the Humvee, ratcheted out 50 caliber rounds at an uncountable rate of speed, buying them a few feet of separation. Two black clad soldiers used their side arms to shoot climbing demons, off of the chain link fence. Finally, the 50 cal, took out the giant troll. It fell, creating chaos in the pack of running demons. The impact the creature made; sent the Humvee’s bouncing over the Tarmac, but it wasn’t enough to knock the chain link fence loose.

Angel realized they were at the deserted Santa Monica airport. An enormous plane, probably a C-17, engines fully powered up, completely ignoring rules concerning noise ordinances, sat on the runway nearest them, faced toward the Pacific. This would normally have the residents of the City of Santa Monica screaming from their porches in the general direction of the airport. However, they were presently dealing with a demon horde. ‘Let them complain about that.’ He thought with amusement.

The open loading hatch allowed the lead vehicle to drive straight up the ramp, only to come to a screeching, sideways halt inside. Soldiers bailed from the Humvee, taking up positions on the ramp, offering cover fire for the other vehicles. The plane was in motion before the cover vehicle came to a complete stop. The soldiers fired everything they had, keeping the horde back, while the C-17 picked up speed. The cockpit was trying unsuccessfully to close the hatch.

Riley began screaming into his headset, ‘Don’t worry about the hatch! Fly!’

Soon, they were in the air, over the Pacific. Circling back toward land, the soldiers worked to free the chain link from the hydraulics so they could close the hatch, but it was caught fast. Graham, taking matters into his own hands, started the Humvee, put it in reverse and sent it flying away. It plummeted to the ground, landing in the middle of the dwindling horde still giving chase. The fireball from the explosion it made was still visible, as the hatch slid closed.

Everyone took a breath and relaxed. It was mentioned, ‘Lucky we were over the airport when Graham let the transport go.’ While taking stock of injuries and thankful to be alive. 

After a moment, Riley said, 'So, let’s go.’ Motioning for them to follow him.

No one moved. The stalemate lasted a few beats. Connor broke the tension, moving to follow Riley. The decision being taken out of their hands, they followed as well. Going up a short flight of stairs, Spike was surprised to see a small galley and sitting area just behind the plane’s cockpit. It wasn't spacious, but it was big enough for the seating, a small kitchen and a bar of sorts. His keen eyes landed on an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels. Snatching it he twisted the lid off and pulled a healthy swallow straight out of the bottle.

‘Needed that.’ He said, comically, offering the bottle to Angel. The git ignored him. He offered it to the boy and that got Captain Forehead’s attention, earning him a glare. He grinned unashamedly.

Deciding to stay, he slouched into a chair, plopped his booted foot on the seat across from him, pulled another swallow off of the bottle and tuned everyone out, thinking he would likely need another one of these bottles, then moved on to, everything that just happened. Including, but not limited to, the fact Angel has a son. Mostly, he wondered, ‘If this was an Apocalypse, where’s Buffy? Why is Captain Cardboard picking up Captain Forehead instead of the Slayer?' He pulled another drink off of the bottle, closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

'Prattle, prattle, prattle…' he complained silently, ignoring the nonsense he was hearing about time travel, the Powers and so on. Apparently, none of the events in Sunnydale mattered. ‘More than a bit fobbed off my grand sacrifice was for naught but piss all. Probably made his girl weak in the knees every bleedin time she thought about him!’ he thought, bitterly. What was he even on about? ‘She’s not thinking about you at all. She’s in Rome dancing the night away with The Great Poofter himself.’ Which was well and good. She deserved a life. He was going to sit here and get piss drunk about it. When they landed, the lot of these wankers could bugger off. Whisky was already do its job. ‘Psh…Not going to sit here and listen to these two Nancy’s, sniffing around each other with their growling and preening.’ He pulled an extra long drink from the bottle and the song, stuck in his head for months, got louder, drowning out everything. He bobbed his head while he drank, thoroughly entertaining himself.

‘I staggered back to the underground and the breeze blew back my hair! I remember throwin' punches around and preachin' from my chair! Tell me who...are you…who who, who who.’ He hummed and drank.

Angel and Riley ignored Spike. Connor, fascinated, couldn’t stop watching him.

Graham came in, 'Commander...'

Riley got up and stepped out. 

Angel looked at Spike, shook his head, then wondered what was keeping Illyria so eerily silent. He was having trouble gauging her mood and it was making him uneasy. ‘As if there weren’t enough going on right now.’ He cast another longsuffering glance at Spike. He couldn’t worry about the moods of a grieving, narcissistic demi-god and Spike too. He decided to ignore Spike and focus on Illyria. They were going to miss Wes for many reasons, but admittedly, the way he was able to navigate Illyria’s moods would be sorely missed. The loss of his friend twisted keenly in his guts. Illyria turned sharply to him, gazing in that unsettling reptilian way of hers. Narrowing her eyes, she studied him a few more moments then came to sit with him.

‘I'll make them pay for what they’ve done to Wesley, with you.’ she said, her words cold and methodic. She added, ‘You needn’t worry about my actions. I'll stay with you until it is done. He would have...wanted it. Would be here now if not for…’ she trailed off.

Angel’s jaw ticked. He held her gaze, nodding once. There was an alliance struck between them now. Certain she would keep her word to the best of her ability. The problem was Cardboard. If she felt Card …

‘RILEY! That’s his name…stupid name!’

If Illyria felt Riley’s decision making was less than superior, it was 100% guaranteed fact she would split off and do what she felt was best. ‘She’s a loose cannon.’ he thought, not for the first time. Making this clear to the Whelp was going to be interesting. Graham was giving Riley an update on Gunn. Thankfully, he was unconscious the entire trip to the airport. Riley’s people patched him up, gave him some pain med to help him rest easier. Hopefully, wherever they were going, wouldn’t take too long.

Thirty minutes ago, he knew what the future held for him. Thirty minutes ago, he knew that right about now, he was going to be dead. Everything changed in an instant. Now, there were things to think about, things to consider. He wanted to jump out of the plane and head back to the alley, but glanced at his son. Connor kept calling him dad.

‘Suck it up.’ he said to himself.

Riley was back. Spike was still humming. Illyria was back in her seat. Connor watched Spike.

'Sorry.' the whelp said, beginning to tell him about Gunn.

‘I heard. Vampire.’ He said, cutting him off.

‘Right.’ Riley replied, then went on explaining the ‘situation.’

By the time they landed Spike's bottle was nearly empty. The plane rolled to a stop, he staggered out of the hatch, following drunkenly along behind the others. Just as he was about to ask where he could find another bottle, he slowed to a stop, taking in his surroundings. This felt like the Initiative. 'Of course, it's the Initiative you dolt.' he chastised himself. 'You been on a plane with them for forty-five minutes.' 

‘What is this place?’ Connor asked.

'Leave it to kids to ask the pertinent questions...' he snorted.

‘Area 51,’ Riley answered motioning, ‘This way.’ He was halfway to the door when he realized they weren’t following him. ‘No aliens! Promise!’ he called, leaving them standing there.

After a tick they followed. He knew they would. 

A medical team met them at the door immediately taking control of Gunn, checking him over while continuing to move with the others through the facility. They stopped at the infirmary only long enough for antibiotics, saline and a clean dressing. It wasn’t long. Spike noted Charlie already smelled better. It was a good sign. Hustling them away from the infirmary, Riley yelled ‘Report!’ Causing him to start and nearly drop his bottle. Scowling at Captain Cardboard, he had a drink. A woman in uniform, unceremoniously elbowed him out of the way, taking up position next to Captain Cardboard. Her speech was quick, succinct, and annoying. Spike paid her no more attention. However, he did notice while they walked, they collected personnel. So many, they were clustered tightly together now, instead of scattered they way they were when they began in this direction. He fell back, not liking the sensation of being herded through the giant facility. Captain Cardboard, presumably sensing everyone who was supposed to be with him, was with him, picked up his pace and they all followed along like puppies.

Spike had no reason to trust the Initiative. Feeling the pressure to bolt he dropped back further, even though he wasn't getting the sense they were in danger. He wanted perspective though. A longer look, so to speak. Angel, up front, talked nonstop, not paying attention to anything. Least of all where they were, or how far they had come. That was until Riley pushed through a set of double doors, bringing the group to a stuttered halt. Even from his spot in the back, he could see into the room. The machine was huge and glowed with iridescence. Curiosity got the better of him and he flowed through the doors with the rest of the crowd. 

‘Huh. Looks like a bloody carnival ride.’ he thought dumbfounded.


	8. Eight

**Eight**

Buffy was on the bottom step, heading toward the bathroom when the double doors leading into the cavernous room, burst open. Angel and Riley walked in, followed by thirty or more people. Her thoughts went immediately to, 'If Angel's here, they failed.' She pulled in a resigned breath, heart sinking into the pit of her stomach. While looking at Giles, he’d gone ashen, for reassurance, Faith reappeared, looking as if she were going to be sick. She knew how they felt.

Turning back to the group pouring through the double doors, Buffy saw that it was Gunn on the gurney. He looked terrible. A teenage boy, about the same age as Dawn, strode with confident curiosity beside the gurney. His pants and shirt were covered in blood. Next to him was a blue woman, wearing a skin tight, red, leather, super-hero suit.

‘I’ve seen a lot of things in my time, but a blue woman…’ she mused.

Pulling her eyes away from the blue woman, she looked over the rest of the group for injuries. As she turned back to greet Angel, a shock of bleach blond hair at the back of the group drew her attention, effectively silencing the greeting on the tip of her tongue. Her brow furrowed and she cocked her head to the side, hoping to see through the cluster of people, but was unsuccessful.

Levering herself up a step she thought, ‘You’re seeing things. He’s dead.’ She began to step down, but didn’t, taking another step up instead.

Moving forward, through the middle of the group, a flash of black leather dangled a whisky bottle from it's sleeve. Ignoring everything in the room except the way the whiskey bottle swung, she stepped to the side, hoping to see around the absolute mountain of a man obscuring her view of everything but the bottle and the leather covered arm. The mountain shifted away at the same time she stepped, allowing her eyes to travel up the arm to the face attached to it.

‘Spike?’ she choked, then tried again, ‘Spike!’ 

The group, startled by her shriek, parted, turning to look at him. Finally, able to see him clearly, her Slayer senses confirmed it was absolutely him. She shook her head in confusion.

'How’s this even possible?' she asked.

He 'sensed' her before he heard her, tearing his eyes away from the machine, looking for her. The black sea of humanity surrounding him parted and there she was, looking at the whisky bottle in his hand. Slowly, her eyes traveled up his arm to meet his own. Caught completely off guard, he shoved the whisky bottle at the man standing next to him. Abruptly, the song stuck in his head for the last three months, changed.

"Gladly lose me to find you. Gladly give up all I had. To find you, I’d suffer anything and be glad!”

His Slayer, launched herself across the room at him. His head tilted quizzically as she sprinted past and Riley and Angel. His Slayer flung her arms around his neck and welded her mouth to his, knocking him to the floor. His arms found their way around her and he returned the kiss, ardently, caught up in the moment.

She was sprawled on top of him trying to kiss away the last three months of pain and regret. She wanted to kiss everything away all at once. Instead, she wrenched her mouth from his demanding, ‘How!’ Then claimed his mouth in another blistering kiss, without letting him answer. 

Spike dug his hands into her hair, savoring the feel of it. The song wailed at top volume.

“To win you, I’d stand naked, stoned, and stabbed! I’d call that a bargain. The best I ever had!”

Cupping her head with his hand, he rolled with her, putting her on her back. The motion broke the kiss and he smiled down at her, ‘I missed you too, Pet. No time for a show now, though.’ He quipped cheekily, pecking a kiss on the end of her nose. Deftly lifting them from the floor, keeping her body close to shield her from the stares they were getting, he rubbed his cheek over hers. In his wildest dreams, he never would've expected his Slayer to greet him the way she had. It made him feel like a god. If she allowed it, he was never letting go of this woman again.

Buffy skimmed her hands down his muscled chest, winding her arms around his waist leaning into him. Shaking like a leaf in a storm, she held him tightly, as if he were going to be snatched away from her by the wind at any second. ‘Spike, how are you even here?’ She breathed into the shelter of his cool embrace and began crying.

‘There now, luv.’ He whispered, ‘It's a long story, not meant for an audience. I’m here and I'll not be leaving you again. So, what do you say to a bit of time-travel, then I give you a proper hello, also not meant for an audience, and I’ll tell you all about it?’ He teased in a suggestive whisper.

She nodded her head refusing to let go of him. Slowly stroking her hair, he gave her a minute, but soon realized she wasn’t going to let go of him. Taking control of the situation, he scooped her up, carrying her into the machine.

‘We’re short on time, Kitten.’ He explained as she pulled back to look at him questioningly.

She nodded, returning her head to his shoulder. Buffy was in her soft place. Everything was going to be okay. Selfishly, she snuggled into him as he sauntered through the entrance of the machine like he owned it. The assemblage, stared in open mouthed astonishment and she cared not one bit. His entire countenance howled in victory as he strutted past the onlookers with her tucked safely in his arms, his bravado making her chuckle. Strangely, it made her feel womanly and cherished. An entirely new feeling, that surprisingly didn’t have any shame or uncertainty attached to it. She decided she liked it. Once inside he settled her into a seat, glanced at the others for reference and fussed over getting her strapped in properly. Then, he smoothed her hair and wiped a tear from her check, taking time to let her get used to the idea he was about to move away from her. Satisfied his ministrations had the desired effect, he sat down in the seat next to her and strapped himself in. She reached for his hand as soon as he finished. The others, stared on in bewildered silence.

Shortly, a series of recorded commands accompanied by a countdown, saw them ready for time travel. The last command, they were instructed to put in their mouthpiece and reminded not to touch anyone but themselves. There was intense pressure, a loud pop followed immediately by something that sounded like an explosion causing a few muffled screams, and then it was over. The recording began telling everyone it was safe to take off their seat belts and leave the machine. 

Turning eyes gone huge with terror toward him, confirming he didn’t disappear during the jump, she breathed a shaking sigh of relief that saw her scrambling out of her seat in the next second. Yanking out the mouthpiece and flinging it away, she dragged the back of her hand across her mouth and settled herself across his lap kissing him again. If felt as if the few seconds she wasn’t touching him, was an eternity. Spike slide his hands under her rear and as if nothing else at all was going on, pulled her center to rest against his belt buckle. After Xander yelled, ‘get a room’ he stood, maneuvering her between the wall and himself. Away from prying eyes, his coat and body shielding her completely from view he pushed her firmly against the bulkhead of the machine, pressing the length of his body fully against hers. After a truly indecent amount of time, she came up for air.

Pulling her mouth from his, she ran her fingers over his kiss swollen lips and demanded, ‘Explain.’

‘Well…you see…’ he began in his way.

‘The short version.’ She laughed, playfully leaning in to both snuggle and push him away.

‘Right then.’ He dropped a kiss on her forehead, feigning a thought process, ‘The short version…’

She rolled her eyes at him.

‘Okay then, my soul, such as it is, was trapped in the big gaudy jewelzit. Someone, don’t know who, mailed the trinket to Angel. We’re not clear on that part at all. Suffice it to say when he opened the package, I was in it. I flowed out of the jewel and poof! There I was. Only I was a ghost. Someone, don’t know who, found a way to get me back in my body and here I am. Shortest version I can do, Luv.’ He finished, shrugging. 

She blinked at the explanation.

Too late, she saw shadows of frustration cloud his eyes. Not meaning for her bafflement to come across like she didn’t believe him, she covered the mistake with a frown saying, ‘Ghost?’ Accepting the extended olive branch, he went into a bit more detail. When finished she said seriously, ‘I'm, beyond. Don’t you ever die again!’ She complained, thrusting out her bottom lip.

‘Too right, that!’ He exclaimed, mesmerized by the protruding pink lip, her tongue ran over, making it glossy. ‘Already told Captain Cardboard, m’not wearing the bauble this go-round.

‘Absolutely not.’ She agreed, then added, ‘But, you’re going to have to call him Commander Cardboard, now. He got a promotion.’ Before he could protest, she kissed him again. Her next thought had her pulling her mouth from his, she asked pointedly, ‘So, is that why you didn’t let me know you were back?’

‘I…’ he stammered, looking guilty, then said, ‘Did you know Angel has a son?’ 

Riley began shouting orders into the chaos around them.

Both flicked their eyes to him, signaling the end of the reunion, for now.

‘Later then?’ Spike said, kissing her mouth softly.

‘Yes.’ She replied annoyed with him, but unwilling to let him go.

A flurry of activity began just a few feet from them.

‘Shall we go and see what 2017 looks like?’ she asked.

Baggage, boxes, and crates found their way out of the machine. They followed, working quickly, listening closely for any hint of what would happen next. Buffy picked up a crate of Giles books and Spike went back into the machine to grab another crate.

At the bottom of the machine’s stairs, Riley yelled, ‘Report!

Buffy popped her head up to see what was happening, someone she hadn't seen before was talking to Riley. She flicked a glance in Angel’s direction. He was talking with Giles and Faith, but looked more than interested in the conversation Riley was having.

Angel’s worried eyes shot to hers, then back at Riley. She followed.

‘That wanker is always yelling ‘Report!’ Spike quietly confided, coming to stand with her.

Riley, seeing he had gained her attention, grimaced. Buffy started toward him.

'I'll be right back.' she called over her shoulder. She knew the look he was wearing. It wasn’t good.

Angel started toward Riley as well, reaching him before she did.

Everything happened fast.

Riley, as was his habit kept the particulars of any operation on a need to know basis. It just wasn’t his way to give too much information freely. She knew this like she knew it was Tuesday. Should've expected a surprise somewhere. He was lying to Angel when she reached them.

She turned, looking for Sam, intending to use her as a buffer. ‘Riley, where is Sam?’

Spike, fear flashing in his eyes, moving toward her. She turned back toward the machine, not understanding what could’ve prompted the reaction. Riley, wearing his helmet, circled a gloved finger above his head and then there was nothing.


	9. Nine

**Nine**

Rolling out of his ‘rack’ that morning, Riley was certain of only one thing. He was finished taking chances. Three months in LA, waiting, watching long established time lines vanish, ‘hoping’ for things to shake out in his favor while his pregnant wife slept alone…

‘No more.’ He had vowed, pulling his helmet on.

Becoming a father, changed everything. Playing the game with piss poor field position, done. Patiently allowing others to offer differing opinions, done. Voting, done. Democracy, done. This was the Initiative. He, was the only democracy. This decision would have consequences. Sam wouldn’t understand. They were going to hate him.

‘Fine. Hate away, but you will fight!’ he had thought, determinedly.

Raising a finger over his head, the hours long memory of blasting a dragon out of the sky, then watching the flaming chunks, plummet, and explode again after hitting the ground, played vividly in his mind’s eye. Angel, standing only a few feet away, glared at him with the same wariness he employed while racing toward the airport that day. Wariness, had shifted to action as Riley spun his extended finger. The big Vampire had surprised him, going for Buffy instead of himself, but even so it was too late.

Justifying his course of action, he reminded himself, ‘I’m going to be a father…’ Using the phrase as a mantra, to absolve himself of the twinge of guilt he felt, when Buffy’s head had bounced off the concrete floor. Besides, a knot on the Slayers head to ensure his child would live in a world free of monsters and god damn dragons, was a small price to pay. Setting himself up to be the recipient of her anger was nothing to him, especially when comparing it to idea of his son having two parents able to focus on actual parenting, instead of the best strategy for slaying a demon horde!

‘Or daughter.’ He’d reminded himself, belatedly.

The dream of raising their family in a small, idyllic town, free of nightmares had nearly slipped away forever. His wife had sacrificed her youth, friends, femineity, even privacy to ensure the safety of strangers, because that’s who she was. Sam fought hard and if need be, she fought dirty, but he wasn’t blinded to who she was by this. He noticed when she watched families on outings or vacation together. Noticed when she eyed shoes and curtains, before returning her focus to the task at hand. He had never seen his wife in a dress. Not even when they were married. Sam deserved a happily ever after and it pissed him off that he was unable secure it for her. 

‘Done with it.’ He had reiterated, walking around the bodies littering the floor.

Going forward, he cared for only two lives and he would move the Universe, in payment of the sacrifices made. Baby Finn, was the beginning of the end, for Lucifer, The Senior Partners, and the rest of the evil incarnate. The decision to secret themselves away, allowing the deeply embedded power structure of Earth to destroy itself over the next three years with infighting while they waited in safety on the next window of opportunity to arrive, was genius.

Some would say cowardice, but you can’t win a war if you’re dead. Make no mistake, this was war. Earth’s destruction, would happen with or without them. Time to retreat to the stronghold, discover who the rest of the players were, formulate a real plan, and when the time was right, rain salvation as deadly as hell fire on the earth.

‘Civilians struggle with that sacrifice.’ He thought, reflecting on the ‘why’ for the decision. 

Involving Buffy and her entourage was an iffy decision for the Initiative. Slugging it out in the streets, was her forte. Skirmish. Battle. See monster, stab it with a stick. This was where she excelled. Global war strategy, not so much. Sam helped him see it by saying, “Wind her up, point her in the right direction, and she’s deadly. Ask her to see the bigger picture and make the sacrifice, she hesitates.”

Niggling apprehension reminded him that the word ‘sacrifice’ meant human lives. Millions, of human lives. Children. Weighing that against human ‘existence,’ put the word ‘sacrifice’ into a perspective she didn’t possess. Buffy was a weapon, to be wielded, nothing more. Losing control of this mission to her was something he couldn’t afford. Allowing her any authority would see her splitting his army into two camps. In the future, her understanding of his role as Commander would be critical to the success of the mission. Stubbornly getting herself killed in an inconsequential battle before understanding the bigger picture, meant losing the war and eventually, extinction for humanity. The Initiative was a partnership of likeminded individuals and corporations, all agreeing that Buffy must be controlled, before being allowed to act. This would happen over time, with teachable moments, in a place that offered no other alternative.

Over the last twenty months on Earth, the Initiative, with the cooperation with Space X and the Powers That Be, in a massive undertaking transported nearly 5000 would be, as well as actual, Slayers, a Watcher, two Hunters, a few witches, a smattering of creatures, including a werewolf, a dhampir, a key to another dimension, a demi-god, an angel, scientists, pilots, doctors, their civilian families, and tons of gear across time in anticipation of destroying the evil that infected the earth.

In total, there were three deep space ships, built in secret by Space X, using technology imparted by the Powers. Two of which, were already in orbit for months by the time they were finally able to acquire Angel. Riley preferred the word ‘acquire’ as the connotation was better than ‘kidnap,’ but essentially, this is what they had done. Acquire, allowed for the concept that, given time, individuals would have willingly agreed to join with the Partnership. Simply put however, there hadn’t been time for 5000 individual conversations, resulting in in several thousand subsequent conversations, designed to convince parents to hand over their teenage girls to a pack of soldiers with the explanation that not only their lives, but all of humanity was in eminent danger and only their children could save them.

‘Rock, meet hard place.’

It would have taken years, man power he didn’t have, to convince even a quarter of those parents he wasn’t crazy. Graham, having lost his patience, blurted from the back of the conference room, “Why are we talking about this? Take them! Ask forgiveness later.”

The Partnership agreed and they got to work. 

Chances were good their families would still be alive when they returned as the war wouldn’t begin in earnest until they returned to the planets surface. The idea, was keep his Slayer army safe. Protected. Out of sight. A complete surprise until the next window. The Powers needed the rest. His men needed the rest. His wife needed the rest and a safe place to have their child. What better place than space. Unfortunately, even with the help of the Powers, providing adequate sustenance and living space for the nearly 7800 people residing within the ships, was impossible.

The Powers saved them once again, suggesting cryogenics. Elon gently reminded the Powers humans hadn’t yet cracked the secret to ‘cold sleeping.’ A prolonged rant was endured and then the Powers explained to Elon the secret of cold sleeping. Within the month, the first Cryo Tube was finished, tested, perfected, and reproduced.

Riley meandered through a row of tubes, past his own to check the settings on Angel’s, recalling his first meeting with Elon and their resulting friendship. Elon Musk was a simple guy for all that he was intensely curious and driven about literally everything. The man was a Bonafide genius, no doubt and he caught Riley’s imagination almost immediately with just a few intriguing phrases and questions. Sam had teased him unmercifully about his ‘bromance,’ but he had been ‘team E’ from there forward. E had plans, complete plans for scores of scenarios, on how to rid Earth of the evil that plagued it. E was passionate about many things, but was dedicated to saving the planet and moving humanity into a future benefitting all mankind. 

Unfortunately, the problem Elon kept running into along the way, was a planet with a governing structure overrun with demons. He couldn’t make any progress, to that end and it disgusted him, but he didn’t give up. He simply went to work. Being young, driven, and idyllist, he didn’t understand the danger of the establishment. What they would do, to exploit and control him. 

Clyde Rossum, was a shyster and everything that was wrong with the world. Why get rid of someone if you were able to use them, was his entire philosophy. Responsible for the development of the ‘Dollhouse,’ Clyde, through the Rossum Corporation ensnared Elon in its web when was just beginning to find some success. In too deep and unable to extricate himself after learning the true purpose behind Rossum, he used the money it generated to make some good happen. Whenever you go to war with evil, there is always ‘splash back.’ Rossum, was Elon’s splash back, almost destroying the Partnership he formed with Riley. It took some doing, but the idea of ‘sacrifice’ for the greater good, resonated and he put it behind him.

The Dollhouse, as explained to him, was an alternative to prison. It offered 'certain' people a five-year life choice of indentured servitude in exchange for prison. It was voluntary, safe, and when the five years were up, you walked away with no memories from the time, a clean record, and a suitcase full of money. All you had to do was 'lease' your body to them. Rossum spent billions upon billions of dollars developing something called a personality imprint program. Essentially, Rossum would download your entire psyche and memory, erase who you were from your memory completely, and when you were basically mindless, would input another personality into your memory. Depending on the day, you could be an assassin, a barista, a whore, a mother or even United States Senator Helen Brucker. It didn't matter what you wanted, if you had the money, the Dollhouse had a Doll for you.

Riley considered this while standing over Faith, reminding himself to, ‘Use the tools you have.’

He was going to have trouble on his hands when or if they ever found out that Faith wasn’t really Faith. The Faith this tube was actually her twin, Caroline or Dollhouse call sign Echo. Either way, that truth would eventually come out and when it did, there would be questions to answer. 

Caroline, adopted by a fairly well to do family, lived a life much different than Faith’s. Their biological parents, unable to afford both children, kept Faith, letting Caroline go. Faith never knew, but missing her twin was the catalyst for her feelings of abandonment and mistrust. As well as terrible parents.

‘It would've gone better for Faith, if she’d been adopted as well.’ He thought, checking the settings on her tube. 

The 'real' Faith, never woke from the coma Buffy put her in and was presumably at the bottom of the Sunnydale crater. Long story. Suffice it to say, Faith had it coming. Caroline, college student, activist, animal lover, got herself into a bit of a situation, that ended with her owing five years to the Dollhouse. Riley saw Caroline’s file on Elon’s desk, thinking it was Faith he asked E how he ‘Knew Faith and when did she recovered from her coma?’ After a lengthy conversation discussing the morality of stealing a psyche, they determined it was irresponsible to let an asset like a Slayer, waste away in a hospital bed when they could serve the greater good by uploading Faith, into Caroline. It was a disaster. The authorities got involved. Caroline, or Echo rather, ended up in prison anyway. The Dollhouse, eventually able to fix the glitch allowing Echo to operate off script, made generous use of bribe money through Elon and was able to gain her release.

Elon gained the attention of The Powers That Be because of Rossum. After witnessing his unsuccessful struggle to extricate himself from Rossum Corp, noting what he was willing to do for humanity, further noting it wasn’t rooted in greed, he was treated to a surprise visit from them. The Powers, notoriously unhelpful to anyone who came looking for them, found the opposite to be true when they came looking for you. They appreciated that Elon wasn’t wishy washy about how to achieve an optimal outcome, but was also honorable about correcting mistakes he made. They pledged to help him within their limitations. Increasing his knowledge and understanding of 'hidden things' so long as he swore to use the wisdom toward the betterment of mankind.

He agreed immediately.

Now, they were, in orbit, hidden from everyone and everything in the reflective glare of the moon.

‘It’s a crazy time to be alive.’ He thought, checking the settings on Illyria’s tube.

Turning away, he yelped in surprise. The Powers startled the bejeezus out of him every time they did that. Focused on the problem of Illyria's tube and he was too distracted to notice the ripple announcing their arrival. The tube insisted the Demi-God was awake. He had just resolved to put her in a new one when he turned to see them intently watching him work. Together, they stepped forward, waved a hand over the tube and the read out corrected itself. 

'Thank you.' Riley said.

They disappeared as silently as they appeared.

The ships Chief Engineer came into the room, presenting an answer to their departure.

‘Ready to proceed whenever you are.’ Dan announced.

Frost coated the inside of Illyria’s tube, setting his mind at ease. He turned his attention to Dan, ‘Just finished up. Thought there was a problem here, but I was wrong.’ He said, gesturing to the tube.

‘Guess we’re ready then.’ Dan replied, ‘Sure you don’t want me to go last?’

‘Positive.’ Riley answered.

While Riley was checking over the tubes in this bay, Dan was in the one opposite, getting his crew settled. Riley follow him into the crew bay. Dan stripped down, bagged his clothing, and climbed into his tube.

‘See ya soon.’ Riley laughed. Dan gave him an awkward salute and Riley began the sequence to seal the tube. It frosted over and then he was alone. Shuffling back the way he came, he went to check the last tube, Graham’s, before settling himself into his own tube. Checking the readout, he couldn’t help feel relieved for his friend. Graham had begun to crack under the pressure over the last six months and was sorely in need of the rest. Healing sleep, not only for his body, but his mind. Riley changed the date for Graham to wake to three weeks earlier than the others, same as his own, wanting time with Graham before the inevitable freak out.

Assessing Graham’s mental state after coming out of cryo was going to be touchy, but it had to be done. Maybe the attitude of his Number Two at late was stress related, but maybe it wasn’t. Sam as his Number One, brought several things to his attention recently, explaining Graham had been taking certain liberties instead of following orders. She was of course right. She was always right.

Thinking to their mad dash for departure and the haphazard way Graham had handled getting Angel into a tube. The utter lack of patience he exhibited after stumbling, unable to lift the Vampire enough to slide his big frame easily into the tube. Instead of asking for help, he unceremoniously dumped him into the tube and would have left his body twisted into a heap for three years if Riley hadn’t noticed and come to take over. Sending him to deal with Illyria, wrongly assuming she would be easier, he looked over in time to see his Second pull out his knife slicing away the laces of the blue demi-god’s red leather bustier.

‘Graham!’ he scolded, shaking his head no.

Graham shot him an annoyed glance, but put the knife away.

Pretty sure all they needed was rest.

Going to his own tube, he stripped out of his clothes, stuffing them into a vac-bag and sealed it, laying it in the bottom of his tube. Climbing in, he attached his leads, hit the buttons in sequence, set his pod to open with Graham’s then laid down as the lid closed. He couldn’t believe how tired he was. Expecting the freezing process to hurt a little, he was surprised when didn’t.


	10. Ten

**Ten**

**Miranda 2522**

Mal loved being on Serenity. It was the only place he was truly happy and safe. The freedom and safety the old rust bucket had provided him had been the dearest thing in the world to him for a damn long time after the war. The others loved Serenity as well, but needed to step off of her occasionally. Get some fresh air, real gravity, and solid ground under their feet. Not him. He had gotten used to rationing, rebreathed air, parts falling off of her, and the occasional artificial gravity malfunction. However, he had to admit that when they were home, the endless supply of hot water was fairly choice. 

‘This giant shower is pretty great as well.’ He thought.

Lifting the heavy mass of Inara’s hair, he laid it gently over her shoulder so he could wash her back. Soaping his hands, he ran them over her shoulder blades and neck working his way down to her hips. The curve of her back was utterly beautiful. Where it met her full round behind, he worked his thumbs in tight little circles helping to relieve the stress in her muscles there.

It had taken him weeks, well…months, see…generally speaking, Malcolm Reynolds was a lummox about women. He didn’t understand them. He wasn’t clued in to how they worked at all. Not to say that once he was able to get one to pay attention to him, he was completely hopeless. 

‘M’not Jayne for pity sake.’ 

It was just, the trying…that it took, to get to that part, that was the struggle wasn’t it. He didn’t have a lot of patience for foppery or making something out to be something it ain’t. Inara’d had time to get used to his ways and she tolerated him fairly well.

Now.

It took her a while though. Took him even longer.

He knew what his shortcomings were and Inara being who she was, well, he just hadn’t been able to see a way to it… Between them, that is. She come to rent one of Serenity’s shuttles from him and he was mad infatuated with her the moment he set eyes on her. 

‘Which was her job, wasn’t it?’ 

Every man t’ever look upon her was supposed to become infatuated with her. She was a Companion after all. Guild Registered, at that. Settin his cap for her woulda been nothin but a folly.

‘Still, the harder he fought it, Dong Ma?’ he smiled, thinking back on it.

They were always at each other’s throats there in the beginning. Hadn’t been much truce to speak of. He hated her being a Companion. She hated him, for hating her. Him being a petty criminal and chased over half the hell begotten ‘Verse hadn’t helped ‘the thing’ between them much either. It was okay for him to call her a whore, but wasn’t okay from her to call him petty. Finally, she couldn’t take his venom anymore and she moved on. He locked that shuttle up when she left and the crew walked on egg shells for months afterward. 

Running his soapy hands again down her slender, graceful arms and back, across her shoulder blades again, she rolled her neck and moaned, ‘Mmmm, that feels lovely.’ He didn’t reply, just kept skimming his strong hands over her body.

Inara was an uncommon woman even for a Companion. The day she came to rent the shuttle, he went slack jawed as an untried teenager before he could get himself under control. His reaction to her beauty mirrored his inadequacies back at him making him feel insignificant and useless.

When she decided to come back to Serenity after their big run in with the Alliance, he was beside himself with joy and self-loathing, alternately. He was still the same great oaf, see? Inara was used to men who treated her like she was the Queen of the whole Gaisi de ‘Verse and he had zero learnin on any o’that. 

By a stroke of luck, he happened upon Simon looking up ‘fun date ideas’ on the Cortex for him and Kaylee. Normally, he woulda stuck around and teased the Doc about it a bit, but instead scurried off to his quarters and got busy with the learnin himself.

It had saved him in her eyes as far as he was concerned.

He had no idea whatever, that you could learn about women on the Cortex. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He knew you could order a woman on it, not that he ever had, but he didn’t know that you could learn what a woman really means when she says,

‘No, I’m not mad, everything is fine.’

He’d been gob smacked to discover it. After a bit he come to understand it wasn’t really the words themselves you needed to listen to, although that was part of it. You had to listen to the ‘nuances’ in what a woman says, to suss out what her meanin is. However, it is recognized throughout the entire ‘Verse that if your woman says to you in a blasé manner that, ‘It’s fine’ you are well and truly humped.

He spent endless hours on the Cortex learning everything he could find on how to woo a woman like Inara. Everything from what fork to use, what tie to wear, and what certain kinds of flowers represented. She graciously put up with his attempts to become more Gentlemanly. Finally losing patience with the whole thing, she sat him down, got him good and drunk and had taken proper advantage of him.

They never looked back.

Thinking about that night right now was causing a not unpleasant disturbance in his nether region. Pressing himself against the length of her glorious back, he wrapped his arms around her waist and ran his soapy hands in gentle circles over her flat stomach and her incredible full breasts. He pressed a kiss to the sweet spot behind her ear and slid a soapy hand between the juncture of her luscious thighs to seek out that little…’

‘Hey Cap’n, Zoe is back! You need to come down to the pad right now and see this!’ Kaylee yelled into the intercom. 

The both of them nearly jumped clean out of their skin at the intrusion. 

‘Shenme f! He swore in Mandarin. I’m going to rip that Gorram thing out of the wall…’ he growled, while Inara giggled her head off then collected herself. 

‘This is your fault.’ She accused. ‘If you would let us spread out a little more, you would have your privacy.’ She scolded him, practically.

‘No...’ he said, shaking his head plainly indicating to her that there would be no further discussion on the matter.

Inara rinsed and turned the water off making to step out of the shower.

‘Here now!’ Mal objected.

‘You heard her; “You have to see this.” Scoot!’ she shooed him smartly, tossing him a towel from the rack, she pulled another for herself, bent at the waist and wrapped her hair in it.

Mal swallowed hard. She peeked back at him, flirting audaciously, then pulled her robe on and walked out of the bathroom and into the common room. Mal followed, with naught but the towel she tossed at him wrapped around his waist. He burst into the room on Inara’s heels. 

‘Dong Ma! Kaylee. We're…busy.’ He complained.

Kaylee blushed and hurriedly turned her back to her Captain.

‘I…I’m sorry Cap! I woulda waited…’ she spluttered, ‘But, this isn’t something that should oughta be put off. You just, gotta come now.’ She explained plaintively, gesturing at the door.

‘Fine! Ten minutes.’ He barked.

Kaylee left quickly. Her embarrassment subsided the moment she crossed the threshold.

Mal and Inara retreated back to their room and got dressed. Not long after that they were down at the landing pad to see what was what. Truth told; nothing could have prepared him for what greeted them down there.

‘Well, where did you say you found it again?’ he asked Zoe, confused.

‘I was coming back from Three Hills, Sir. I was using The Rim to swing past the far side of Georgia to save fuel on the way home just like always. I was just about to slip in and there it was. Just floating out there. I towed it home, by the way. Safe to say towing it used twice as much fuel than I would have saved leaving it. It still has power. I left it in low orbit though, because honestly, I’m not sure it would make it through the atmo. There are more on it, Sir.’ Zoe finished.

‘More…than this?’ he gaped at her.

‘Yes, Sir.’ She nodded.

‘Probably, 1200 in all.’ She confirmed resting her elbows on one of the tubes. ‘All alive from what I can tell. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was afraid to even touch it at first and almost went right on by, but all the scans we ran came back negative breach. The doors hadn’t been opened since the day they were sealed. It’s the damnedest thing, Sir.’

‘You say the departure logs are from 2017? Zoe, that is impossible. That’s, that’s…more than…than…’ Mal was trying to do the math in his head.

‘More than 500 years.’ Simon supplied, helpfully.

Mal gestured at him in agreement then frowned dumbly.

‘Zoe, why did you choose to bring just these down?’ Inara asked her.

She waved a hand at the clear glass tubes and they all looked back at them.

‘These were grouped together and separate from the rest.’ Zoe answered.

She waited a moment before she said or offered anything else. She wanted to make sure there weren’t any more questions before she dropped the confetti bomb on them. When she was satisfied that they were all consumed with the puzzle she let the excitement bubbling through her take over.

‘This isn’t all of it.’ She said, pointing at the tubes. ‘It’s completely full of supplies as well. You're not going to believe it when you see it. We're so incredibly rich that you're not going to be able to calculate it let alone fathom it.’ She smiled brightly enjoying the perplexed looks they were sharing.

She'd saved the best for last and had everyone’s attention now. She knew that Miranda had already made them rich, but money in hand was a different kind of rich. It was the best kind of rich.

‘Rich?’ Jayne, bored with the entire discovery thus far piped up, twisting around to look askance at her. ‘How rich?’

Zoe’s eyes sparkled with glee as she explained to them in detail what was up there waiting on them and they were dumbstruck.

Jayne bolted off of his chair and crammed his hands through his hair. He was so excited, he felt faint. ‘How much ammunition?’ he demanded, shaking.

‘Jayne, there is so much, that if we were to count them one at a time it would take us a week.’ Zoe laughed harder and clapped her hands when he collapsed into his chair and cried.

At once the rest of them finally understood what Zoe had just explained to them. They had an antique spaceship loaded to the point of groaning with pristine condition, 21st century firearms and there was ammunition to go in them. They were beyond rich. The amount of wealth they had with a single one of those firearms, couldn’t be calculated.

One minute they were speechless the next minute they were singing, laughing, and dancing through and around all of the cryo-tubes in the cargo bay of Zoe’s ship. They’d not given much thought to the tubes in the last five minutes. Everyone was daydreaming of what they were going to be able to accomplish with that kind of money.

Everyone except River. 

River was leaning over the tube of a young blond woman. Her ear pressed against the glass concentrating on something only she could hear she whispered, ‘Don’t cry’ as she stroked the glass tube, over and over. ‘Don’t cry anymore.’ She sang, then promised, ‘We’re going to take you out of there and make you happy again.’ 

The others stopped celebrating one by one to watch River interact with the tube. She sang the soothing tune for several bars, then noticed the celebration around her had come to an end. Her eyes opened and she stood up. ‘She’s first.’ River insisted, pointing at the girl in the tube.

Any discussion they might have had about not opening 1200 cryo-tubes ended there. Simon nodded his agreement and they got busy unloading Zoe’s cargo bay, talking as they worked. It was going to take time to open 19 cryo-tubes, not to mention the nearly 1200 currently in orbit. They universally agreed they wouldn’t be opening all of the tubes at once. They also agreed to open them in the order River decided and that made River happy. She fluttered around the tubes becoming more animated and excited as she went from one to the next babbling about them being monster slayers, witches, astronauts, and such. No one had any idea what she was going on about.

For now, it was only this girl, so they could get some information.

There weren’t enough people to take care of the needs of 19 people in cryo-tubes for the last 500 years, let alone 1200. Health issues and disease screenings took priority. Not to mention the emotional trauma of being frozen for half of a millennium. That issue alone would present interesting challenges. Simon was giddy at the prospect of so much work.

Kaylee got to work rigging up a power source that could run the ancient tubes without destroying them and Simon decided it would be easier to complete most of the health screen while the woman was still asleep. Thawing her out slowly and keeping her sedated while he ran screens and administered the more than 50 vaccinations she was going to need, would be easier.

All of that would take a considerable amount of time.

Thankfully, Miranda could supply the abundance of vaccine he would need.

The original inhabitants of Serenity had resided on Miranda for the better part of the last three years. The deserted planet was home now, but it tended to get lonely sometimes. Maybe company would be just the thing. The Alliance committed a terrible atrocity against Miranda and her people. In the big dust up over River, Mal exposed the crime committed by Alliance and the shadow government. After that, there wasn’t a safe place for them anywhere in the Verse. Assassins, bounty hunters, those blue handed freaks, chased them across entire systems. Each time the stopped for fuel, food, or repairs, someone…or, a whole bunch of someone’s, came at them.

Life was entirely too dangerous. After Hobie was born, Zoe insisted she couldn’t keep taking chances. Her boy needed a safe place to grow up. A place with fresh air and soil. Sitting in Serenity’s mess hall, discussing solutions, River solved the problem for them.

‘Miranda.’ She said simply.

‘The last time River uttered the words Miranda,’ Jayne reminded them loudly, ‘She brought hell on us.’

This time though, Miranda brought sanctuary.

‘Miranda!’ river insisted.

Having been to Miranda, they knew what to expect and took the long way around. However, they mightn’t have bothered. Over the ensuing years, they learned to trust River when she was adamant. Insisting the Reavers were gone, she gloated to be proved right.

G23 Paxilon Hydro-Chlorate, murdered the population Miranda and created the 'Reavers.'

PAX, a populace calming chemical the government had added to the air processors, calmed the population so much they laid down and starved to death for lack of motivation.

Except for the ones who didn’t. 

The PAX had the opposite reaction on a small percentage of the population. Reavers, as they were called, became the new definition of rape, pillage, and burn. The PAX drove them mad, turning men into beasts. Fortunately, nearly all of the Reavers around Miranda were destroyed in the skirmish with the Alliance. There were still some here and there in orbit around the planet, but as if they were afraid of it, the Reavers never came to the surface of Miranda.

The Alliance never came within sight of Miranda, let alone land on her. No one landed on her. The entire ‘Verse knew for a fact the surface of Miranda was overrun with Reavers. Every time Jayne and Zoe went on a ‘supply run,’ they ‘got drunk’ and told bars full of people the stories about Miranda and the Alliance were true. 

It was true. All of it. A decade after the Alliance abandoned the people of Miranda, the air was clear. The surface safe. The entire ‘Verse warned away under the threat of Reaver attack.

Serenity’s crew finally had a safe home. Miranda. The perfect solution.

They didn’t move off of Serenity for a month. It took that long to settle on a spot. Mal insisted on an apartment building, for safety. Zoe argued an apartment building didn’t have soil and fresh air, demanding they live in the country side. Simon pointed out that if they were in the country, they wouldn’t have access to supplies and Mal insisted they would be to far apart. River took matters into her own hands by disappearing. Three days later they found her in a charming suburban neighborhood, bordering a large park, located close the city center.

‘Here.’ She stated. And, that was that.

Slowly, with a lot of work, they were able to funeral the bodies of the dead. Those were difficult days. The Alliance had simply left the population. Old people, children, pregnant mothers, everyone. Respectfully, they cleared one home after another, building a place for themselves.

Once comfortable with the space, they explored their planet properly. What they discovered was shocking.

From their previous visit, they were fully aware the Alliance abandoned the planet entirely. To what extent, wasn’t clear. Alliance offices, Alliance ports, Alliance warehouses told the tale. The Alliance boarded their ships, taking nothing, and never came back. Miranda, was laden with abandoned Alliance wealth. It wasn’t just an entire planet full of dead bodies. It was an entire planet full of fuel, food, medicine, machinery, and water. The crew of Serenity, couldn’t hope to use the abundance of resources acquired in 100,000 lifetimes. The only thing there was a shortage of, was live people. 

Eventually, they brought Kaylee’s parents out and a few of her cousins. Zoe had an Aunt and Uncle and she brought them. They brought some of Nandi’s girls who wanted to retire. Petaline’s son Jonah was a constant playmate for Hobie. There were a few more kids here and there, as well. They brought the few survivors from Shepard Book’s commune.

Things on Miranda ran smoothly. When they did eventually get stir crazy, and they did, they used the abandoned identification software, at the abandoned government bureaucracy building, to forge new government IDs. Then they would hop on one of the thousands of abandoned cruisers littering the landscape like fallen leaves and toddle off to Ariel for a few weeks of fun. 

Every once in a while, someone to come back with them.

There were 53 people living good Gorram lives here and with the incredible fortune Zoe found on that derelict, their families would for centuries to come. Food and medicine did have expiration dates after all and fuel tended to run out eventually, but it wasn’t a worry any longer for the foreseeable future. After struggling for such a long time, it sure was nice these last several years just to live normal.

Just be folks. No one trying to rule over them and encroach on a man’s freedoms. Long as men followed along the laws of common decency, no one should oughta be telling them how to live. That was why even though no one was saying it out loud, adding 1200 people they never met to their population was making them a little antsy. 

It took about a week to get everything ready and another week after that for the vaccines to do their work and another still for the testing, but Simon was finally ready to wake the girl up. River was so excited she could barely sit still.

The girl, as it turned out was actually more a young woman, had been thawed out for three days already. Her brain activity was excellent, though she was kept under sedation…just in case. Simon felt confident everything would be fine. Well, he was cautiously optimistic.

Everyone wanted to be here when she woke up, but he put his foot down. Only River, Mal, and himself would be in the room when she gained consciousness. Disorientation was going to be a problem in the first critical minutes. Quiet was best. He already told Mal and River no questions right away, answers only.

River was sitting on the counter and Mal propped himself against the wall. Simon brought her up slowly, speculating it would be another thirty minutes before her eyes opened. He was wrong. At once, she was awake. She bolted from the bed, took one look at Mal and began screaming.

‘She should NOT be able to do that!’ Simon exclaimed.

Mal stepped forward and she leveled him in one punch. Leveled. Sprawled on the floor!

Simon blinked in shock and went for the sedative. River slipped from the counter, cocked her head and listened hard to the girls’ mind. Now that she was awake, she knew the girl spoke English. That was lucky. She was…looking for someone. River warned Simon away with a pointed finger.

‘Spiiiii…’ Buffy mouthed, trying to form the word.

River nodded and smiled, motioning silently for the girl to follow. She did and River led her around to the other cryo-tubes in the lab, stopping at the one containing the ‘not man’ with blond hair. The girl began to frantically look for the latch. Not finding it, she began pulling at the lid.

River laid her own hands over the girls, shaking her head. ‘Ta Hui si de.’ River said, softly.

The girl stared at her puzzled, River realized she spoke in Mandarin.

‘He will die.’ River tried again, in English.

The girl screwed up her face stubbornly. 

River could see in the girl’s mind; she was going to slug her any second. ‘No…’ River said calmly, shaking her head again. ‘Listen to me, if you open the tube, he will die. The tube is keeping him alive.’ 

The girl looked down at the tube, tried to talk, then collapsed.

Simon had Mal on his feet in time to see the girl try to speak, then hit the floor. They picked her up and put her back in the bed, strapping her down. Simon checked her over for broken bones and lumps on her head. When he was done, he turned back to River to make sure she was okay.

‘He’s next…’ she commanded, pointing at the tube the ‘not man’ was in.


	11. Eleven

**Eleven**

**Several Weeks Later**

Crawling out of bed, Buffy dragged on the clothes she wore earlier in the day. Even after 500 years, her body’s rhythm wouldn’t allow for an entire night of sleep. There wasn’t anything to patrol, but her body couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

Wandering down the expansive stairs in her new home, she teased herself about the new digs.

‘Push yourself, Buffy! Don’t stop for food or water before getting to the front door!’ she snorted.

Patting herself on the back when reaching the front door, she listlessly took the suitcase that resided there by the handle and left, not bothering to lock the door. Going to the elevator at the end hall, she pushed the button and the doors opened immediately and she stepped inside, pushing G for ground. The door slid closed and it took more than a sec, to reach the bottom. The elevator wasn’t slow. The building, was huge. One the way down, she thought about the day Mal brought her here.

Two weeks ago, Captain Reynolds came into The Kitchen while she was having lunch.

‘Pack up. Meet me outside the Lab in two hours.’ He dictated, without explanation.

A questioning frown was her response.

‘No questions. Gonna have to trust me. That’s an order.’ He said over his shoulder as he left.

So, as ‘requested’ she and her meager bag of belongings met him at the lab.

‘Come on.’ He waved, pulling to a stop.

His car reminded her of a ‘souped up’ golf cart. Putting her bag on the bench seat in the back, she got in. While he drove through five distinct neighborhoods across the north side of the city, he talked about random things like ‘Community Dinner,’ none of which explained where they were going. As they approached the warehouse holding the cryo-tubes, she assumed he was moving her in there. Maybe he thought to save her the two mile walk back and forth between the lab and the warehouse every day.

‘Makes sense.’ She thought.

Simons lab was a lab. She couldn’t stay there in his way indefinitely.

As he drove past the turn off, she said to herself, ‘So, not the warehouse, then.’

Extra curious she began to ask, but he cut her off, ‘No. Patience.’ Was all he said, then continued chattering away about rules and population. ‘I have been a disruption.’ She acknowledged silently, as they pulled into a parking lot.

Mal put the sporty, open roof golf cart in park, then said, ‘Grab your bag and follow me.’

Complying, she grabbed her bag and Mal explained while they walk toward the fifty story, luxury hi-rise, building in front of them, that he was giving her and the rest of her people the two buildings on this complex, the park, surrounding neighborhood, shopping district and hydro-farm.

Blinking in surprise, she stammered ‘Wha…what?’

‘So’s there’s enough room for all of you to spread out.’ He gestured, with a wave, then explained further that, ‘Zoe assures me it’s important for folks to have their own space. Especially girls.’

‘I don’t understand…’ she said, as they waited for the elevator.

‘Me either.’ He quipped, soldiering on. ‘We were able to funeral most of the bodies out of this building in the last week, but you’re going to be responsible for rest. It’s a daunting undertaking, but a fact of life here. I will walk you through it tomorrow and then you’re on your own. Left the Signal unattended too long. Can’t have that. Too dangerous for us.’ He finished, his tone clipped, worried.

Moving at a brisk pace, she scrambled to keep up. Thick glass doors across the buildings entrance slid open as they approached, lights flickering on as they moved across the threshold. The lobby was a palate of blue, silver and white. The counter was empty, obviously, but it was devoid of computers or papers as if swept clean. Furniture dotted the open space and the massive dark screens of what she now new to be televisions, were set into several walls.

Stopping in front of a bank of elevators he pushed the button and they stepped in. As the door slid closed, he said, ‘You’re free to do whatever you want with the buildings and neighborhood. You’ll be in charge of the up-keep as well. So, don’t go letting trash pile up or buildings to fall into disrepair. Something breaks, you fix it. No moving on.’

Overwhelmed, Buffy blew a breath into her cheeks, causing them to puff animatedly outward and held it. The area he bequeathed to her was roughly a mile and a half square and she didn’t know how to drive a nail, let alone where to acquire a hammer. Panic set in as the elevator car came to a stop at the top. Exiting the elevator, Mal stepped a few paces down the hall, opened a door and presented the penthouse to her, saying it was hers. The panic drained away, replaced by gratitude.

'Boy was there gratitude.' she smiled to herself, remembering her first glimpse of the penthouse.

Taking up the entire south side of the building, the two-floor penthouse looked out over the city from five banks of floor to ceiling windows. The entrance opened onto a massive open space, that was broken up in the center, by a glass fountain. Not an outdoor fountain that sprayed water into the air. A wall fountain, that trickled water over clear, green, soft hued glass that sparkled in the light. It was beautiful and the sound was like balm over her soul. The space was warm, homey and not at all like one of those cold, LA type party pads associated with penthouses. All chrome and white leather sofas. ‘Ick.’ The penthouse had been a home to someone and the soft, comfortable, tones throughout reflected that, in everything from throw pillows to the dishes. It reminded her of home and she loved it.

Reaching the ground floor, the elevator doors slid open and she began mentally scanning a list of items she was on the hunt for. Dragging the suit case through the lobby, she cleared the doors and stepped into another perfect morning on Miranda.

Having gone East the last three nights, she elected to follow Mirandas moon, Caliban and go west. Plodding through the dim light of Miranda’s super early morning, she confronted her inability to sleep and onset depression, head on. It was too quiet. She was lonely. Drowning in silence. Any 'normal' person would’ve said it was because she was living in a cemetery. 

‘Psh…how is that different from any other day…ever?’ she scoffed.

It wasn’t just living in a cemetery. It was the fact that she was ‘living in a cemetery’ and everything else too. What happened to the people of Miranda, was monstrous. What happened to her people, and to her, she didn’t understand. Before moving into the penthouse, she walked the two miles to the warehouse every day. Then, she would stand in the doorway for hours staring at the expanse of frost covered tubes in the cavernous room, wondering who they were. What they wanted. Why they did this. Frustrated when the answer would come, she would walk back to the lab and sit with Spike or Willow or Dawn. After she moved into the penthouse, Simon moved the tubes holding her friends and family, everyone except Spike and Giles that is, to the warehouse. Last week, she woke up on the concrete floor curled next to Dawn’s tube. She missed her friends, she missed Spike, she missed Dawn and wanted to see them, talk to them, be with them. How was she supposed to explain this…shocking situation, or help anyone through it when she couldn’t even help herself through it.

Walking up the porch, she cracked open the door of the first house she came to, morbidly calling, ‘Knock, knock. Anyone home?’ No answer. She sighed heavily, pushed the door fully open and went in. They were in the family room, in front of the television. The solid blue screen indicated that it was still on. Rolling her neck, she introduced herself, turned off the television and began the process of ‘funeraling’ the family. Mal had given specific instructions for the process and she was careful about her responses and behavior even though she had big time wiggins. So far, she had repeated this process fifty-three times. Swallowing nervously, she said the words, reminding herself that even though it felt like it, she wasn’t alone and eventually, she would have help with this task. The process for the family of four, took twenty minutes. When she was finished, she went room to room, collecting personal items like pictures, adding them to the wedding rings taking from the couple in front of the TV. She added, make up, tooth or hair brushes, personalized clothing, coffee mugs and other ephemera, like diaries, calendars, receipts, to the basket she carried. She didn’t worry with refrigerators or trash yet. There wasn’t anywhere to take it. When she was done, she organized the entire basket, then slid it into a closet closing the door to be dealt with at a later date. In total, she was in the house around forty-five minutes.

Not finding any of the items on her list, she left moving on to the house next door. It was smaller. No one was home and she was able to go through it quickly, repeating the gathering and storing process. Her new job was depressing and she decided to take the rest of the day off, opting for shopping instead of scavenging, as she needed sheets and towels and wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of ‘used’ ones. Leaving the house, she dragged empty the oversized suit case along in her wake. A giant shopping complex two miles south was her destination. Strolling, since she didn’t have anything else to do, she enjoyed the colors the sunrise threw over the city of Garrison.

Captain Reynolds had explained that oddly, Miranda’s cities and towns were named for famous people named Miranda. Miranda Garrison, was a famous actress from the United States on Earth That Was and, ‘Her most famous role was as an aging, spurned housewife in the movie…’

‘Dirty Dancing.’ Buffy supplied, cutting him off with a smile.

‘You know the movie?’ he asked.

‘One of my favorites.’ She replied, telling him about movie nights with her mom and Dawn whenever they needed girl time. ‘We would make popcorn and pile onto the couch, pausing to order pizza or dish up ice cream halfway through. It was a good memory.

‘What’s pizza?’ the Captain asked.

‘You mean, there isn’t pizza in the future?’ she asked, despondent.

‘Apparently not, since I don’t know what it is.’ Captain Reynolds responded.

‘It really was all for nothing.’ She quipped. Definitely have to teach these people about pizza!

Garrison’s neighborhoods were self-contained, square miles, bordering parks or ponds. The roads were made out of big rectangular squares tiles that Mal had explained generated kinetic energy, that was then stored and used in conjunction with wind turbines and solar farms to power the city. It explained how the deserted planet was still functioning. Turning the quaint, family-oriented neighborhood, she walked for another block, then crossed the street slipping into a super sleek, minimalist modern neighborhood. That was the purpose of the self-contained squares. Garrison’s city-planners built neighborhoods based on personalities. Homes, shopping, bars and restaurants all catered to the lifestyles of those living there. You weren’t going to find a Chucky Cheese in this neighborhood. Single people had lived here. It reminded her of SoHo. On the other side of her own neighborhood was an Asian inspired section, larger than the rest. When she began to furnish Angel’s apartment, she would find a lot there. Today, she was ‘shopping’ for Spike, Dawn and Giles.

Turning the corner to cut diagonally through the neighborhood, she froze and fell instantly in love. The seafoam green scooter reminded her of a Vespa. It was plugged into a charging station. She charged at the scooter, ‘Pleeease.’ She crooned. The key was in it and heart pounded with joy, then lurched in disappointment. The scooters owner lay on the street, hidden from view. Debating only as long as it took to unearth the device from her suitcase she quickly, but respectfully, funeraled the scooters owner then took a seat.

This, adorable vehicle…was hers. The paint was the same color as the wallpaper in her bedroom at ho…in Sunnydale. She had no idea what to do. Looking over the buttons she turned the key and the dash lit up. There weren’t any peddles, but she knew to twist the handles and use the levers to make it stop and go. Other than that, it had to be just like riding a bike. Tentatively, she tested the handle and the scooter gave a little lurch. She let it go immediately. Nervously she tried again, slower this time. When the scooter lurched again, she was expecting it. This time, she didn’t let go, just let the handle slid through her hand. It took several minutes for her to get a feel for it, but soon she was taking her first test ride. She was going so slow she almost fell over. She practiced lifting her feet, twisting the accelerator, using the break with her left hand and soon she was covering more ground than a slug on a rainy day. Never much of a driver, she felt more at ease with this scooter than she ever had behind the wheel of her mom’s Jeep Cherokee.

Feeling confident, she left the suit case where it was and made her way to the ‘mall.’ 

Living on Miranda was lonely and weird, but it was also kinda nifty. Where else could you ride your ‘ground score scooter’ through the mall to shop? First stop, towels. Pulling to a stop, she keyed the scooter off and too late realized the attached basket wasn’t big enough to carry everything she was going to ‘shop’ for. She needed a backpack or a duffle. Why hadn’t she thought to bring her duffle?

‘Because you had the suitcase, Dolt.’ She answered, sarcastically. ‘Talking to yourself. Crazy.’

Shrugging, she went in search of luggage, opting for a cart until she found something compatible.

She made a morning of it. The cart was full and she found a larger suitcase. It was almost a trunk. She practiced driving with it, but it was difficult and she scrapped the idea opting to find a large duffle or back pack. Hopefully a bigger basket. The duffle presented itself and she was tucking sheets, towels, a few new outfits and a tea service that was thankfully in some interesting, space saving packaging. It wasn’t exactly cardboard or plastic. Pulling the zipper closed she draped the strap across her chest and wiggled to settle the bag, adjusting the strap a few times to get it just right.

Climbing on the scooter, she debated on what to name it. People named their cars all the time and she wanted to name her scooter. So far, everything she thought of was cheesy or too obvious. She thought she might have settled on Betty, but it didn’t feel right. Her scooter was definitely a boy, not a Betty.

‘Right?’ she said, out loud. Following it up worriedly with, ‘Where did I leave that suitcase?’

This, was why she didn’t like to drive. She was so focused on not having an accident, she never knew where she was. Driving slowly through the giant complex, she looked for the door she had come through. Realizing she was on the other end of the complex, she weaved her way through racks, around counters until jerking to a halt.

A ‘SQUEEEEEE!’ came bubbling up out of her throat and she levered the kick stand down, practically skipping to a shelf of bike helmets. The one catching her eye, was lavender glitter. She didn’t even care how ridiculous it was, it was bringing her mad joy! Of which, she was in desperate need. Unpacking it she chanted ‘Please. Please. Please. Please…’ and put it on. ‘SQUEEEEEEE!’ she chortled, dancing in place, then laughed at herself. This was her life now. Elation over a bike helmet. ‘Whateve’s’ she chastised, intending to hush the pessimistic joy stealer in her. Picking up the box with the shiny red helmet, she looked for a size wondering, ‘How fat is Spike’s head anyway?’ The box read, XL. ‘That should do.’ she decided, going back to the scooter and tucking the helmet in the basket.

‘Now, I’m done.’ and it was a good thing, because she was getting hungry.

Maneuvering the scooter out of the building, she drove along the outside getting her bearings, then made her way back the way she came, eventually finding the suitcase. This little debacle was a lesson to her, not to leave things behind. The ‘funeral machine’ was an important piece of equipment and she would seriously hate having to tell Captain Reynolds she misplaced it to go shopping. 

Once on the road, it didn’t take any time at all for her to get back to the building.

The names scrawled in elegant script across the signs in front of the hi-rises were ‘The Seymore’ and ‘The Sawyer.’ She was considering, because she didn’t have anything else to do, tearing the signs down and renaming the buildings, ‘Joyce’ and ‘Jenny.’ Maybe that was fanciful and silly too. She didn’t know, because, ‘I don’t have anyone to ask! Gah! I’m so bored!’ she complained.

Pulling into a parking place and the front of the building, she plugged the scooter in. Grabbing the tea set from the basket she headed inside. Stepping into the elevator, she pressed the P for penthouse.

‘Hmmm… P.’ She considered, ‘How about, Petunia? Or, Penelope? No! No girl names!’ Suddenly, it came to her. ‘POSEDION!’ she shouted, and it was settled. That, was what she named her scooter. ‘See? Everything is hunky-dory.’ She smiled, stepping out of the elevator.

Ignoring the door to her own home, she entered the north facing penthouse that would belong to Giles, after he was liberated from his cryo-tube. The floor plan was a mirror image to her own home in layout, still boasting floor to ceiling windows, but with distinct differences. Giles had a ‘holographic fireplace’ that actually gave off heat, instead of a fountain and the previous occupant was a collector. A wall of shelves now held Giles library and record collection.

Sliding the strap over her head, she laid the duffle on the kitchen counter and unpacked the tea set, sheets, and towels she had selected for Giles. Opting to wash the sheets and towels first, she carried them down the hall to the laundry machine. Like everything else in the future, the way laundry was done was the same, but different. Everything went into the machine and a ‘cleaning sheet’ went in with it, picture a Bounce fabric softener, except its detergent, chose your setting and push start. The machine doesn’t fill with water, it begins to tumble the clothes, cleaning them with hot mist and light. Thankfully, the machines weren’t fronted with glass, the way they were on Earth, or this could be problematic for Spike and Angel.

As much as things were different, a lot of things were the same. Tea, for instance. Tea is a big deal on Miranda. Each home she’d been in claimed a tea set and hordes of tea. The set she chose for Giles, suited him perfectly. Or, at least she thought so. It was both masculine and decidedly English in appearance. So many she had seen were Asian in design that she despaired of finding something for him that was just right. The china was the color of heavy cream. It was bordered in a deep brown that held a reddish tint, setting the cream off. The colors complemented each other well. Thin gold trim edged the lip, handle and trim. It wasn’t overdone, it was just right. The pot, was squat, shaped like a cylinder and had a short pedestal base. Getting a sink of water ready, she finished unpacking the set, then washed, dried, and tried to put it away. The tea cabinet, was stuffed full of tea she had already brought in. She worked at rearranging the cabinet long enough that the laundry machine buzzed to let her know it was finished. Maybe ten minutes. She stopped fooling with the tea, settled for arranging the set on the counter then set the laundry machine for drying. As far as she knew, the clothes dried the old-fashioned way. With heat.

Zipping up the duffle, she headed home to eat and work on her own space.

Grabbing a palm size fruit that reminded her of a Kiwi without the fur, she took a bite and went to Dawn’s room, laying the duffle on the bed. The teal paint she used in this room, was amazing. Dawn was going to love it. Quickly finishing the fruit, she wiped her hands on her pants and opened the duffle, pulling a soft orange blanket from the recess. She arranged the blanket over the violet bedspread covering the four-poster dominating the room, just so. When she was done, she stood back taking in the room, settling the duffle over her once more. Satisfied with what she saw, she declared the room ‘perfect’ and turned to leave. The duffle bumped the night stand, knocking over the framed picture there. Righting it, she closed the door and went upstairs, to her own room.

The color palate in the penthouse was fluid in every room throughout, except for the bedrooms. No where was that more evident than the massive walk-in closet she had converted to Spike’s room. She hoped he liked it. Flipping on the light, she pulled the duffle over hear head for the final time and removed several black t-shirts, a pair of boots, and a bottle of flat black nail polish. Pulling the tags from the clothing she tossed it into the laundry machine, conveniently located in the closet. It was a truly massive space. She had been able to fit the equivalent of a queen size bed in there and still have room for clothes and a laundry machine. There were actually three laundry machines in the penthouse. One in each bedroom and another off the kitchen.

Something clunked in the bottom of the duffle and she fished it out. It was another box of tea. Giles was never going to be able to drink it all. Inara assured her that even though the tea was 15 years old, it would be fresh when he opened it. Buffy hadn’t believed her and tested the theory, but Inara was right. Stuffing the duffle into a cubby, she flipped off the light and took the tea across the hall. While she was there, she folded the towels, then carried them along with sheets upstairs to the bedroom and made the bed.

When she was done, she went to the window and looked out, feeling anxious. It was still several hours until time, but she pulled the key to her new scooter out of her pocket, grabbed her helmet, and left the again.

‘Hello Poseidon, you cute little.…’ she crooned at the scooter, admiring the glossy soft green.

Finding herself in Simon's Lab in fifteen minutes instead of an hour was nice. Tucked between the tubes that held Spike and Giles, she leaned her head against the frosted glass. It was a seat she began to occupy with more frequency over the last week. Even though she came every day, she saw Simon only twice and that at the beginning of the week. It wasn’t any wonder she was lonely; she hadn’t spoken to a conscious soul in five Miranda days. Miranda days were thirty hours long!

‘Dummy!’ she chastised, letting her head fall back in frustration. It thunked against Spikes tube. ‘Ow!’ she complained, trying to recall the last conversation she had. ‘Saying hello to Simon, isn’t a conversation, Buffy.’ The last conversation she had was with Mal, when he dropped her at the penthouse. ‘Isolated much?’

This realization, was prompting her to reconsider the decision to remove everyone from cryo one at a time. Maybe it was better to do it in groups. She missed everyone, but she mostly missed Spike and she was ready for him to be out of this stupid tube!

‘Okay! Fine! That’s selfish. I agree. I still miss him and want him!’ She sighed in exasperation. Digging her hands through her hair, she reminded herself, ‘You didn’t get this far in life, being impulsive.’

She was talking to herself again.

‘Psh…Maybe I have.’ She challenged, sassily.

‘Um, the point I’m trying to make is, it’s no time to be impulsive because major decisions! Hello!’

‘Whatever. These are nice people and Dr. Tam let’s you call him Simon. His wife is so sweet she gives us a tooth ache, Mal is bossy and Zoe, well, I like her, but they aren’t beating your door down to be friends! Sure, they’ve been nice ‘company.’ You need your family! You don’t have to figure this out by yourself! Open this tube!’ Selfish Buffy insisted.

Responsible Buffy tuned her out.

Selfish Buffy kicked the door in, replaying a vivid memory of Willow, in a panic at the top of the stairs, her hair wrapped haphazardly in a towel hanging to one side, soaking wet, robe clinging to her body, mascara smudged down her face, yelling ‘OMG Buffy! I forgot to ask Xan to pick Dawnie up from school!’

‘No fair!’ she sniffled, smiling.

Buffy had been half way out the door to pick Dawn up herself. The mail man stood on the porch with a straight eyeline up the stairs. She had slammed the door in his face and two beats later, the mail slid through the slot. It was hilarious.

‘Is.’ Selfish pushed. 

‘Can’t’ she insisted.

There was what she wanted and what she needed. She needed, help. Guidance. The barest semblance of a plan for her life. Their lives. What to do! She was a Vampire Slayer, living on a planet with nothing but dead people. None of which, were Vampires!

‘Let’s just analyze that, Selfish!’ she snapped.

  1. It’s not Earth.
  2. An entirely different planet.
  3. Nothing but dead people.
  4. Five hundred years!



‘So, tell me,’ she began, speaking out loud, just to hear her own voice, ‘where should I start? Let’s put Spike, Dawn, Giles, Willow, Xander, Andrew, Kennedy, Angel, and Faith in a room, together, and just spill the beans. What next? How long before all of them start making demands of Captain Reynolds. How long before Faith gets into with Spike or Kennedy? I don’t have the answers for these questions. What I want and what I need, are two different things entirely!’

She sighed and there was silence, but Selfish said bitterly, ‘I hate you.’

As much as she wanted Spikes soft, reassuring, strength to curl into, what she needed, was Giles.

Level headed, unemotional, solution-based Giles.

‘Yes, but who's going to tell you everything will be alright after Giles finishes laying the weight of Miranda on your shoulders and scaring you to death?’ Selfish quipped.

‘Regardless, the answer is no.’ she said, stubbornly.

There were 1246 people in the tubes and she had no idea how to tell them they were no longer on Earth or even in their own star system. How do you tell someone they haven’t taken a breath of fresh, unrebreathed air in more than 500 years?

‘How?’ she moaned, tears slipping over her lower lashes.

It wasn’t just the 500 years, or not being on Earth any longer. It was so much more. It was the 'holy crap trifecta. Essentially, there wasn’t an Earth to go back to. The official story read, ‘Earth That Was, got used up.’ She read it and all you had to do was read between the lines of the official history for the real story.

The demons won. Full stop.

After reading what was now ancient earth history, Captain Reynolds enlightened her on Miranda’s history, then his problems with the Alliance and how he and his ‘crew’ came to be on Miranda. And then, as if that weren’t enough, he told her about the Reavers. The Reavers, were the one thing she could do something about, but for some reason they avoided the surface. If would have been nice to have the stress outlet of Slaying Reavers.

All of these problems, were now her problems. Or, their problems, rather and only one of them, was enough to break someone. She knew from experience. How was she supposed to help Dawn through this, when a few weeks ago she herself was unable to keep any food in her stomach or get out of bed. She wiped away the tears and shifted her body again, struggling for comfort against Spikes tube.

'It's just like him to be this comforting and this uncomfortable.' she thought, with a giggle. She willed him to sense her presence and spontaneously wake up, taking the decision to leave him in the tube for another month, away from her.

Shifted again, her thoughts drifting to the day she left cryo. It was so embarrassing to her now, but no doubt about it, Captain Reynolds was a dead ringer for Caleb, the priest that the First Evil used against them on Earth. He was responsible for so many deaths, so much trauma. She reacted on impulse and Simon told her she knocked Captain Reynolds out with one punch.

He’s forgiven her, but in that few minutes it was touch and go. If River hadn’t intervened, he probable would’ve shot her. Captain Reynold wasn’t really the trusting sort to begin with. He was less inclined to trust her when she explained who she was, who her people were and that she had no idea who were in the rest of the tubes. He insisted that Simon do a full mental evaluation on her. The results, she’s not crazy. ‘Good to know…’

She didn’t blame the Captain for his doubts. Her own mother hadn’t believed she was a Slayer. Captain Reynolds was unconvinced right up until her first sparing session with River. Simon had related River’s story to her. At the end, she told Simon, ‘It’s almost as if they were trying to turn her into a Slayer.’ Then she asked if she would ‘try’ something. Simon agreed and Buffy asked River if she would like to ‘train’ with her.

Before the ‘training/sparing’ session was over, the entire community including Captain Reynolds turned out to watch. River impulsively hugged Buffy afterward and skipped off to The Kitchen. According to Kaylee’s momma, she ate a huge dinner and slept like a rock. Simon said he hadn’t seen her so relaxed in years.

Captain Reynolds came to see her after that and they began building a repour with each other. The only thing you really need to know about Mal Reynolds is his crew trusts them with their lives. After that, everything is self-explanatory.

Full of questions about Miranda, he answered every one. Her questions ranged from how an abandoned planet is able to maintain its power source unattended for twelve years, to hydro-farming, and what they did with all of the dead bodies. If he didn’t have an answer, he got one. She was formally introduced to the Community during the 'bi-weekly dinner' and most of her questions were answered during those times. Miranda was functionally intact, because of ‘renewable energy.’ Where she came from, Solar power was something that people used to keep their pools warm.

When she’d tentatively asked what happened when they removed people and their personal belongings from their homes Simon carefully explained the process to her. It was different than what she was used to. She decided it was sort of…beautiful. They didn’t bury people or cremate people here. They were vaporized. Essentially, broken down into carbon to become star dust once again. She liked it. It made sense to her. It freaked her out when Captain Reynolds showed her how to do and expected her to, but she was getting used to it.

Hydro-farming made her eyes glaze over. She couldn’t pronounce anything associated with it and all she understood about it was it was only possible if you had sterilized water, pest free something or others, auto-trophies, something chloro-phyylis, and introducing minerals, bacteria’s, and fungus. Maybe. Whatever, they grew, she ate it. The most interesting part of that story, River taught Kaylee how to do it and Kaylee perfected it.

The general consensus was, River was probably the smartest human being in the ‘Verse. So, far everything she’d seen from her, supported that notion. The pair of them, Kaylee and River, functioned like a machine. River was a walking encyclopedia and Kaylee was a wiz woman, taking knowledge and making if function, ‘better.’ 

Simon strolled into the lab.

She ran a hand over the smooth surface of Spike’s tube. ‘Soon…’ she smiled at the tube.

‘Oh, hello.’ Simon said, noticing her.

‘Hey.’ She answered, her tone both apprehensive, and happy.

It was time to bring Giles home.


	12. Twelve

Twelve 

Physically, Giles did surprisingly well. Mentally, it went just the way she thought it would.

The penthouse appealed to him and he was happy to see his books and music. He appreciated the tea set and complimented the effort she put in to making it homey. He did all the right things, but she could see the hopelessness in his eyes. This, wasn’t what she expected.

‘What did you expect? You can barely cope yourself.’ She had ridiculed herself.

It didn’t come as a surprise when she found his door locked and he refused to come out for three days. She returned home on the fourth day, to find him sitting in her living room, watching the water wall.

‘Tell me again, from the beginning.’ He said.

So, she did. After that, they had lunch together every day, but he never said much.

Venturing out of the building for the first time was difficult. It made everything…real. The unfamiliarity of everyday objects like kinetic road panels instead of pavement was a struggle when he finally understood that every road was made from them. Understanding that every house contained a dead family. Watching him go through the same motions she did, helped her gain perspective. In total, it was three and a half weeks, before he was able to go to Community Dinner. The dinner was the only social event on Miranda. Everyone went. The people of Miranda welcomed him and then introduced themselves one by one.

At one point he endured an ordeal of a conversation with a man called Jayne. When it was over, he was more than ready to go home, but Zoe saved the day. On the drive home, he referred to her as the lovely African woman. Buffy didn’t have the heart to tell him that Zoe was ‘vessel born’ and career military until the ‘war’ ended.

After the Community Dinner, he seemed more himself and he helped her work on making things homey, in anticipation of their loved one’s arrivals. They carefully avoided the subject of Spike. Yes, five hundred years had passed since Giles and Robin tried to kill him, but consciously only six months had passed, so the subject was ouchy.

Soon, she was going to tell him it was time for Spike to come home. It would be an interesting conversation. One she hoped wouldn't turn into an argument.

More interesting however, she was curious about what kind of roommate he would turn out to be, let alone boyfriend. 

As had become their custom, they were having lunch in Giles kitchen, when he looked at her and said forlornly, ‘I don’t have a purpose any longer and I’ve no idea whatever to do about it.’

She knew exactly where he was coming from, because she herself, felt completely adrift some days. Doing exactly what he would have done, she laid her hand on his, and explained, ‘Giles, you’re always going to have a purpose. You’re simply out of a job at the moment.’

He laughed, surprising her. A real laugh that reached his eyes.

‘Quite right, you are.’ He replied quietly, once he'd sobered. 

‘We'll figure it all out.’ She continued, reassuringly. 

‘We’re going to have our hands full.’ He admitted.

‘And how!’ she exclaimed, lamely.

‘Who do you think we should bring up from the tubes next?’ he asked.

This was the moment she'd been dreading all day. She was double dreading it now, because they just had a moment and she didn’t want to ruin it with a confrontation with him, but she plowed in not mincing her words.

‘Giles, I'm not going forward one more moment than absolutely necessary without Spike. Now that you’re doing better, I’m hoping for soonest. Like, today. You have misgivings, but as we’ve discussed before, you need to keep those to yourself. I love you and respect you, but I need him in my life. The sooner the better. Our problems will be our problems. We'll handle them. I need you to trust that he is necessary and essential to me.’ She answered him.

Giles nodded, but didn't offer anything.

‘I want time alone with him so we can solidify things between us without outside interference. We've had a mountain of other people’s expectations to overcome and pretty much, I'm done with that. I didn’t understand how important he was to me, until he was gone. We have a lot to work through. So, it's just going to be you, me and Spike, until we can present ourselves as a united front. We don’t have the luxury of petty differences here. This is a fresh start for Spike. We have a home through the good will of Captain Reynolds. He didn’t have to take us in. I refuse to bring unwarranted chaos into his life.’

Giles arched a brow at her.

‘You know what I mean, Giles. We can’t govern 1200 people if we are constantly fighting among ourselves. Yes, I selfishly want time to get comfortable in a relationship with Spike but there is also the obligation to the Captain we carry. Presenting a well-adjusted, united front to our people as they're brought out of Cryo, will be the guide for their own behavior. In this way, I'm hoping to limit the ways we harass the Captain.’ She concluded.

‘Spike it is then. Would you like to discuss who to wake up after him?’ Giles asked.

‘Yes.’ She replied. ‘It’s important, and as you well know, it is a process.’ Buffy said.

He nodded considering her words, waiting for her to continue.

‘We need people who can acclimate quickly and in turn help others acclimate as well. We’ve been here almost four months and so far, it’s just me and you. I was thinking we should wake up Faith, Willow, and as much as I hate the idea, Kennedy together. I can handle Faith. You can deal with Willow. She and Kennedy will rely on each other more than us anyway. The brothers from 2017, remember I told you I met them, they should be next, then Xander and Andrew. I don’t want to wake Dawn until I have extra time to spend with her. Besides, she will do better if we’re all available to her. After that, we can probably wake up eight people at a time, gradually increasing the number when there are enough of us to prepare housing and a way to feed everyone. We will be a strain on Serenity Township’s resources and we need a solution for that.’ She finished, pausing to think over what she said.

‘You don’t want to wake Angel with Faith?’ Giles asked, carefully.

‘I think that waking Angel will cause me aggravation that I don’t want to deal with at this time. I…had a hard-enough time trying to explain everything to you. We're going to have our hands full with Kennedy, Faith and Dawn. We don’t have to be in a hurry. I feel like the better acclimated we are, the easier it's going to be for new people later. Right now, we still don’t have a lot of answers. I think we should have a strong grasp on…on…all of…this…before we start waking up strangers and Angel. I'll wake up Angel, when I feel ready.’ She waved a hand to indicate literally everything while she talked.

‘I don’t agree.’ Giles stated, calmly, taking off his glasses and gave them a polish. ‘You underestimate the bond Faith has established with Angel. You'll have difficulty with her if you refuse to bring him up until later. I know you don’t like the connection they’ve forged, but at this point it isn’t any of your business. In my opinion you'll be able to deal with Angel, easier than Faith.’ Giles said frankly. ‘I think it’s imperative that we bring Angel up next so he can help Faith acclimate. Let him deal with her. This will free you up to work on more pressing matters. There's going to be tension between the three of you, no matter when you wake him up. It's important to get it dealt with away from prying eyes. Especially if, as you say, you want to present a united front to the others.’ He finished with a gentle but authoritative air and put his glasses back on tucking his hanky in his trouser pocket giving her time to think about his words. After a moment he flicked a glance at her to gauge her reaction. 

She didn’t like it, but she knew he was right. Besides, what was the point of insisting to River that Giles be here with her before anyone else if she wouldn’t heed his advice. She huffed out a resigned breath, ‘You're right.’ She relented.

Giles, nodded in surprise, discussing it further while finishing lunch. Afterward, they cleaned up the dishes together and Buffy went home. Back at home she went through the house making sure everything was just so, checking the freezer for the umpteenth time to make sure there was enough blood in it. There was. After putting several bags in a small cooler, she checked herself over in the mirror then left. The ominous silence was disconcerting. Miranda lacked living insects and animal life. She was truly dead. It bothered Buffy more than she realized each time the reality of Miranda presented itself for viewing. Until recently, her travel routine was strictly, Lab, warehouse, home, The Kitchen, surrounding neighborhoods and the shopping district. She 'understood' her neighbors were 'dead,' but it hadn’t really hit home until she took Poseidon and drove and drove and drove, only to be greeted by more of the same. That was a difficult day. Acceptance came over the next few days. In the back of her mind, the idea that she could somehow fix this mess turned into acceptance. This was home now. This was life now. Grave tending was her job now. It, was going to be everyone’s job. The mission statement of the fifty-odd people in Serenity Township, her handful, and the rest of the people in those tubes, would eventually read blah blah blah, ‘rebuild this dead planet.’

Sliding her helmet on, she climbed on Poseidon, turned the key and thought, ‘If someone had told Joyce Summers her daughters’ destiny was to become a ‘founding father’ on a dead planet five hundred years in the future, she would have laughed herself silly.’

Buffy herself laughed as she pictured her warry mother roll her eyes in exasperation.

Unbidden, Buffy’s ‘other self’ poked her through the mental door way she resided behind then said, ‘Yeah, totally! And then, she would have straightened your collar and said, “I believe in you, Buffy. I’m so proud. Now go out there and make Miranda everything it can be. I know you can do it.” Right? Mom was so awesome that way!’

Buffy nodded in agreement, dabbing at the tears welling in her eyes. Then took off for the Lab.

Mentally changing the subject, she went over the conversation she had with Simon and Captain Reynolds about Spike and Angel. Well, the last conversation, as there have been several to date. Mal, cautiously optimistic, trusted her, but insisted on being at the Lab when Spike and Angel woke. Buffy warned him they would likely be hostile to him, same as she had been, due to his uncanny resemblance to Caleb.

‘Be that as it may, this is my planet. It’s my job to see to my people and that’s what I’m going to do.’ Mal said, in his way that was both irritating and endearing.

Both Mal and Simon were confused about why they had to be brought out of their tubes at night.

When she explained about ‘bursting into flame,’ Mal grudgingly told her both Spike and Angel sat on a landing pad for hours while he figured out what to do with all of those tubes. Horrified, she nearly passed out. After collecting herself, there was a rigorous discussion about why that hadn’t happened. Taking the matter into his own hands, Simon called Kaylee to the Lab and she determined the glass was ‘old school’ UV resistant.

They could have saved themselves some time if they bothered to pay any attention to River. Perched in her usual spot on the counter, she began a rambling speech, beginning with, ‘Doesn’t matter’ going on to babble incoherent math formula, trajectories, body chemistry, and religion. Eventually they would learn to include her, but that wasn’t the day.

Regardless, the decision to ‘reanimate’ in the evening was unanimous.

‘Better safe than horrified.’ She mused, putting along.

Simon finally explained the technical term for ‘removing one from ‘cryo-preservation’ was ‘reanimation.’ Not, thawing, pulling or yanking out of cryo, tube eviction, or taking a trip to the hot springs. It took him an unusual amount of time to catch on she was teasing him. The doctor had a sense of humor, but you had to nudge at him repeatedly to see it.

Tonight, he was at the Lab when she arrived. Had been for a while. Anticipation causing her to shake, she pulled the small cooler out of Poseidon’s basket and went inside. There were a few more hours to wait and they chatted congenially until it was time. Occasionally, Simon would change settings, watch the read-out, then settle in the chair across from her again. Just before it was time to open the tube, she asked him to wait a moment.

‘I need to talk to you about something and I’ve put it off as long as I can, because I didn’t want to freak you out, or get into a big dumb argument with you or Captain Reynolds.’ She began.

Simon, puzzled, sat back in his chair and waited uneasily.

‘It’s nothing for you to be concerned about. Not really. I just, think it’s for the best if you wait outside the Lab after opening Spike’s tube.’ She said, mater of factly.

‘Okay… Can you, explain why?’ Simon asked, with careful curiosity.

‘I just… See, I don’t want your first impression of him, to be a negative one. I just don’t know what state of…mind, he is going to be in. So, it’s important to me. He doesn’t know it yet, but it will be important to him too.’ She said honestly, and shrugged.

‘But you’ll be safe? You don’t ‘want’ me to be concerned, but…’ he shrugged, echoing her.

‘Promise. Pinkie swears.’ She said, crossing her heart and offering him her pinky. When Simon stared in confusion at the proffered ‘pinky’ she blinked, dropped her hand and said, ‘Safe as a baby in its mothers’ arms.’

Simon’s expression confirmed that was an analogy he understood.

Buffy went on.

‘However, just because I’m safe, doesn’t mean anyone else will be. At least, not until I get some blood in him. The hunger thing was different for both Giles and I, but we’re human. I might be making more out of this than there is, but better safe than sorry. I would prefer not having to smack him around since I haven’t seen him in five hundred years just to get him to focus. Understand?’ She explained as honestly as she could. 

‘Okay, it’s your call. What should I do if it goes badly?’ he asked, curiously.

‘It won’t, but if it does, have River put a stake in his heart.’ she said frankly.

Simon's eyebrows hit his hairline and his mouth O’d in surprise. ‘Okay then.’ He stammered.

‘Simon, are you worried about Captain Reynolds being angry with us?’ she asked tentatively.

‘He’s going to be mad, but your reasons are valid and Spike is my patient. He’s just going to have to accept that. At worst, we're in for a good chewing out.’ Simon confided.

Buffy nodded, pulled in an accepting breath and stood over Spike’s tube. ‘How much longer?’

‘Any minute now.’ Simon replied. 

‘I’m here.’ She said to the glass, laying her hand on it.

Suddenly Spikes eyes were open, the pupils set in those beautiful blue irises focused on her.

Sucking in a surprised breath she exclaimed, ‘Oh!’

Spike narrowed his eyes at her, presumably to focus, then took in his surroundings, the tube, the room. Questions flew through his expressions one after another and slowly the confusion cleared.

Buffy noted that his breath fogged the glass on the tube, but before she could wonder about it, Spikes hand smashed against the glass, rubbing the condensation away. She flinched in surprise, but didn’t have a moment to consider that either.

‘Where is he? I’m gonna kill him!’ he roared, then demanded, ‘Get me out of here!’

Rolling, he began inspecting the tube, flailing at the glass, the motion causing it to teeter unsteadily.

‘Simon, leave now.’ Buffy instructed calmly, then over her shoulder to his retreating form reminded him to, ‘Lock the door behind you.’

Simon scurried out of the lab quickly, locking the door on the way out, then keeping watch through the tempered window as Buffy pressed the release on the tube. The Vampire sprang to his feet much the same way she had. Stalking through the Lab he ranted, demanding ‘bring him to me right now, point me at him!’ Stopping suddenly, as if furious his demands weren’t being met immediately, he stalked to Buffy. She stood calmly, arms crossed over her breasts, allowing him the space he obviously required. Spike pointed a finger at her, speaking harshly he leered at her menacingly.

Simon’s heart began to pound in fear, but the strangest thing happened.

Buffy leaned forward and kissed the tip of the finger Spike brandished at her.

The Vampire deflated instantly, the finger falling away. Buffy moved forward, wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him to her, and laid her body against his relaxing into him. The Vampire, nonplussed, shocked into motionlessness, stood frozen that way for a beat, then wrapped his arms around her slim body, burying his face in her hair.

Just like that, the dramatics were over. Simon smiled, and walked away from the door, giving them privacy.

‘I missed you so much.’ She whispered, lips brushing against the fabric of the worn black t-shirt, he wore. Squeezing him tightly she sighed, in pleasure, frustration, sadness, she didn’t know which, ‘Everything is so… There is a lot to tell. I want to tell you, but right now I just want you to hold me.’ 

Stroking her hair, he reveled in its silken texture ‘Love her hair,’ he thought, going over what she wasn’t saying. Which, was a lot. Keeping quiet, he complied with her request and held her. ‘Patience is a virtue, William.’ She began speaking again, but she wasn’t making much sense yet.

‘I swear I'll tell you everything, but right now, I just want to take you home.’ She breathed, holding him tighter.

Looking up at him, hopeful expectation written in the planes of her lovely face, she waited for him to answer.

‘Okay, Luv. If that’s what you want.’ He agreed, ‘Ugh, where’s home?’

Tears welled in her eyes and pulling away, she began giggling. It rumbled through her, turning into laughter. Tears, burst the confines of her lashes, slipping down her face and the laughter became a hysterical sort of keening. Then, the incoherent babbling began, ‘Held on. Pulled together. One foot in front of the other. Stay strong. Stay focused. Every day. Practice. Train. Sacrifice. Die. Dawn. Mom. Five hundred years! Hell mouth! Angel! You! Riley! No home! Nothing!’ she was yelling when he pulled her back into his arms.

‘What the bloody hell had he woken up to now?’ he thought. What he said was, ‘Shhh.’

‘Selfish!’ she railed at her ‘other’ self. ‘He just got here! Couldn’t you give him even a minute?’

‘No! We waited too long and he is the safe place. We’re weak and we need it! We needed it, last month, but ‘Miss, Goody Goody’ had to have it her way! Today, it’s my turn, so shut up and kiss him.’ Her other self, chastised.

‘Selfish had a point.’ She allowed. ‘Pretty sure I’m losing my mind.

Spike, no idea what was happening, did the one thing he did to perfection. Made himself available.

Smiling, he enjoyed the feel of her heat against him as melody from ‘Once in a Lifetime’ played.

“Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was.”

‘Ah, Chaos. We shall enjoy it.’ He thought morbidly, mouth pulling into a determined smirk.

Taking in their surroundings, he began pulling together information, piecing it together until she could pull herself together enough to clue him in. Obviously, they were in a lab, but nothing in it looked remotely familiar. Aside from the one ‘Nancy’ in the corridor, they were alone. In fact, it was eerily quiet. He didn’t smell Captain Cardboard on her, so that boded well for the git. The memory of his Slayer hitting the floor videoed through his thoughts.

Gritting his teeth, he vowed, ‘Soldier Boy’s in for a good going over.’

Now that she was just about finished up, he pulled back getting a look at her.

‘Yeah?’ He inquired, asking if she was better.

With a sniffle, she nodded and started to laugh again.

‘Here, we’ve been down that lane, Luv. Home then?’ he asked, pecking a kiss on her forehead. 

Instead of answering she asked, ‘Are you hungry?’

‘Famished.’ He admitted, ‘But I can wait.’

‘It’s just… I have blood for you here. I mean, I have blood for you at home too, but what I really mean is…you don’t have to wait.’ She stammered.

Spike nodded cautiously, considering the implication of this entirely, ‘domestic’ behavior. Truthfully, her offering him blood before ‘taking him home’ had him thinking about things that he shouldn’t be thinking about. ‘Can’t be helped, Mate. Look at her.’ She's bloody gorgeous and all vulnerable. Somehow, he knew he was going to be judged on any decision he made here. ‘Thank you.’ He said. ‘It was, good of you to bring it, but I think we'd be more comfortable back at your place? Yeah?’ he asked, noncommittally.

‘Not my place, our place.’ she said. ‘Me and you…and eventually Dawn.’

Disbelief shattered the caution. He took a step back, expression screaming ‘Come again?’ His mouth said, nothing. Turning over every syllable of that statement he deflected asking, ‘So, where’s the Nibblet then?’

Buffy opened her mouth, paused, looked guilty, closed her mouth, opened it again, said nothing.

‘Buffy,’ he said seriously, gripping her shoulder. He Pushed for an answer, ‘Where is Dawn?’ 

Still looking guilty, she gestured and mumbled, ‘She…she’s just, down the street. It, well, it will be easier to show you than explain, but…if I show you, we’re going to spend the rest of the night talking and I don’t want to talk. I want to…do, something else.’ She finished the run-on sentence shyly, looking up at him from under her lashes.

‘Oh…’ he blinked in surprise.

The Slayer, his Slayer, just offered to feed him, take him home, to their home according to her, and then explained that she expected to spend the evening, ‘not talking.’ Swallowing hard, he focused and looked over the lab once more. ‘This…is all wrong.’ Looking hard at the Slayer, he reached out and slid his finger tips over her jawline, snaking his fingers around the base of her neck. ‘Doesn’t feel like Buffy Bot. Doesn’t cry like Buffy Bot.’ he thought, pulling her to him. Pressing a soft kiss against her lips, he felt the warmth of her breath against his mouth. ‘Doesn’t kiss, like Buffy Bot.’ He let go and stood back, worried. ‘Swear, we won’t talk all night. I’m in the dark here, Slayer. You have to give me somethin, or I’ll be worrin on the Nibblet instead of concentraitin on you. Yeah?’

How had she ever missed this part of him before? Sometimes, she thought he played the buffoon on purpose, just to throw everyone off and keep them guessing.

‘Mom liked him.’ Selfish reminded her.

‘Okay,’ she acquiesced, then said seriously, ‘…but, don’t forget you promised.’

He shrugged agreeably, hooked his arm through hers, and they left the lab.


	13. Thirteen

**Thirteen**

**Ariel 2522**

Lucifer or Luc, as he liked to be called now, was once the most beloved, most beautiful creature in all of Heaven, until dear old dad unceremoniously tossed him out on his ass for daring to be bold. The old man had no vision. He was romantic and foolish concerning his pet creation project.

Human beings were a disgusting race of lower beings, with zero respect for their betters.

Luc firmly believed this. They proved it time and time again, going about their everyday lives with the delusion that they were the masters of the Universe instead of the slaves they actually were.

Father made laws, they ignored them.

Father gave them a beautiful place to live, they destroyed it.

Father taught them how to worship and respect him, they mocked him as being a suggestion.

A ‘figment’ of their ancestor’s imagination!

Blasphemy!

Luc observed and saw for himself, Father’s relaxed discipline for his creation. Becoming incensed, he took it upon himself to meet out punishments for the habitual offenders. Father demanded that he cease and desist

Fine. Let Father sort them out.

Father declined, sighting ‘free will.’

If Beings, lower than himself, had free will, he would do the same.

Struggling with it in the beginning, he eventually got the hang of misbehaving then began to glory in it.

'It seemed eon’s since I had roast infant. Still my favorite. Don’t let anyone tell you toddler is better. It's all lies.’ He mused, distractedly. 

Lies were his number one pet peeve. 

Ultimately, Father confronted him about his ‘transgressions.’

Flippantly, he argued, ‘You’ve never had infant! Don’t hang your bullshit prejudices and double standards on me! Your precious humans are offering me their infants of their own free will. I suppose I should just, turn them down?’

Oh, that had really pissed the old man off.

Thrown out of heaven, his ability to enter Father’s presence revoked, doorways barricaded against him, he felt the heavy blow keenly. Wallowing in misery, he endured the separation and quit receiving the sacrifice. Amending his wickedness, he reformed himself. After a few millennia he began to feel optimistic about his prospects for forgiveness and regaining admittance to Heaven, with the goal of eventually wresting control of the place from Father and becoming King himself. 

And he would have done it, if not for an insignificant blond girl, the Winchesters, and the destruction of his Doll project. After Sunnydale, he was dealing with the Winchesters, every time he turned around. He would rid himself of them, only to have them miraculously reappear and lay waste to everything he was able to accomplish in their absence.

Yeah, he was still bitter about it. ‘So…?’

The last time he suffered their interference, several decades of work were destroyed and then, they simply vanished. Inevitably Jack arrived on his doorstop, all accusations and demands, insisting he produce his ‘brothers’ and Cas. Luc, as flummoxed by it as Jack was, calmly explained he didn’t have them.

With the Doll project in ruins he was empty handed when Chuck arrived, dad liked for everyone to call him Chuck. The flame of vengeance and destruction was burning bright in his countenance and he was looking for Jack. The boy was his son and in trouble, he didn’t really have a choice about helping. Okay, maybe he was alone and at Chuck’s mercy, but that was neither here nor there. Both he and Jack were both vulnerable. Chuck wanted Jack, Michael wanted his grace, every minion in Hell wanted the throne, and even the Big Empty was in earnest pursuit. So, they ran and kept running until they could escape Earth and Chucks wrath.

Here on Ariel, he was no longer Lucifer. He was simply Luc St. Claire, immortal entrepreneur. His power, while not entirely depleted, was diminished. It was the Earth Paradox. Instead of being one of the most powerful entities in all creation, he was merely a Being with powers on the level of a fictional comic book character. Also, he’d become allergic to strawberries. It was humiliating. If he were to return to Earth tomorrow he had no doubt his power would return to full strength, but even though he was basically powerless he had no desire to return to Earth. It was all different here except for one thing, okay, two things. One, humanity was still a plague. Two, even with his diminished powers, he was the most powerful entity in this galaxy. Okay, three things, he ran the show. It all belonged to him. Nothing happened here, that he didn’t set in motion.

Alliance. Unification War. The Academy. Operatives. Blue Sun.

All of it. Nothing happened here that he didn’t have a hand in.

It wasn’t perfect yet, but it was close.

The Earth derelict had been the key. It simply manifested itself in the system out of the blue.

‘Like a Luc send.’ He snorted, then sobered, remembering the rest.

If he hadn’t been so impatient, he would be farther along than he was now. Obviously, he learned he lesson about that. The ancient ship virtually disintegrated passing through the atmosphere, killing the ancient humans that slept inside. His surprise was palpable when shreds of Rossum equipment and data were sifted from the wreckage. For the last twenty years, he had the best minds in three systems working through the damaged data, rewriting the code.

Then, as if it were an episode of ‘This Is Your Life,’ that damn Doctor waltzed into his facility, took his test subject, and destroyed twenty years worth of work, with a stolen EMMP wand. In a blink, he was back at square one.

He despised humans.

Dr. Simon Tam, had no right to his sister. His parents sold her for a large fortune and to date, she was the most successful subject they had ever had. It was a very exciting time for him. Luc owned the girl. She was his property and he wanted her back.

‘When I catch up with him, I’m going to peel him.’ Luc blustered, knowing he wouldn’t.

Vengeance was rash and wasteful. It was the only lesson his father was finally able to teach him. Hot anger served no purpose except to make more problems. Instead of peeling the good Doctor, he would get his vengeance in a more productive way. Putting him to work on the project suited the new image he had fostered for himself and it was so deliciously devious and evil, he was actually tingling at the prospect.

By all accounts Simon Tam was a brilliant doctor. Why waste him.

Besides, if Jack found out there would be Hell to pay. Pardon the pun.

Presently, he was tolerating the excuses that fell like rain from his advisor’s lips. Larry couldn’t necessarily be considered an advisor he was more of an ‘imparter.’ If there was bullshit to impart, Larry made it tolerable. However, recently there was more imparting than information and that was making him impatient. Bad things happened when he became anxious and impatient. Impatience was something he couldn’t afford and it was bad for Larry. Jack would make him sorry if he lost his patience with Larry and then it would take an eternity to get back in his son’s good graces.

So, he worked at cooling his temper, but he might as well pray for all the good it would do. Fury boiled to the surface all the same. River Tam, was the key to this Universe, ‘his Universe.’ The closest he got to acquiring her, was already four years in the past and was so much dust in the wind. He actually did peel the idiot lackey that killed the Operative that let Malcolm Reynolds escape. You can’t question someone when they're dead! Four years, with no hint of where she might be since.

It was vexing.

Larry the Imparter wasn’t speaking.

‘All I hear anymore, are excuses. What does it take to find one small ship?’ he gritted, working to maintain low tones. ‘I want efforts redoubled. Offer money. Offer land. Someone, somewhere, knows something. That ship has a crew. Who are they? Who are their families? Find me something. I want my weapon.’ He demanded, lazily.

‘Yes, Lord. I understand.’ Larry said bowing, backing out of the room.

Jack came in while Larry was leaving.

‘Hi Larry.’ The Jack said, conversationally.

‘Hello, Young Master.’ Larry said, leaving the room.

Luc, smiling broadly as his son gained the dais patted the arm of the chair next to him indicating that Jack should come and sit calling, ‘Hello, my boy! What have you learned today?’

‘Dad, I'm hardly a boy anymore.’ Jack complained.

‘Maybe so, but you will always be just a boy to me.’ Luc assured him.

Jack wasn’t sure, he never was with his father, but thought there was a double entendre behind his father’s words. Actually, he felt that way frequently lately. He had an insatiable thirst to understand humans and at least once a day, he debated human behavior with his father.

Luc smiled and followed along as Jack related several news stories from the day. He loved these conversations with his son, using them to twist Jack’s understanding of humans, to his own opinion of humans. Occasionally, if something was especially upsetting to Jack, Luc would covertly order the responsible party to be punished. Jack would inevitably come back to him later with the news story, describing the punishment. Luc always used these teachable moments to his advantage, telling his son the culprit had sinned and ‘Karma’ had finally caught up with them.

Jack wasn’t quite there, but it was coming. The boy’s human side was strong and he had an abiding need to find the good in people. It was only a matter of time though, and there was an eternity of that.


	14. Fourteen

**Fourteen**

**Miranda**

Spike slipped his hand into Buffy’s as they walked out of the Lab.

‘It isn’t far.’ She explained.

Expecting to walk to their destination as usual, he was surprised when she stopped next to some kind of crazy scooter, offered him a slick, red, helmet, then inserted an odd-looking key into the dash. He stared at her quizzically, making no move to take the helmet.

‘What?’ she asked, thrusting the helmet at him again. 

‘Not bloody likely, Pet.’ He scoffed, eyes twinkling.

‘What?’ she insisted, looking down at the scooter.

He lifted his scarred eyebrow at her.

‘I've been driving Poseidon all over! It’s perfectly safe.’ She swore, holding her fingers up in the Girl Scout salute.

‘It’s not safe if you are drivin it. I’ve seen you drive. Bloody, hell on wheels, that is. Were you ever a Girl Scout?’ He grinned, pointing at the scooter.

‘So not!’ she exclaimed, in mock insult, declining to answer the question of, if she were a Girl Scout or not, the memory of Principle Snider in the back seat of her mother’s car popped to mind. ‘Summer’s! You drive like a spaz!’ he’d declared.

‘It’s too true, Slayer!’ he laughed, eyes shining with mirth. He animatedly looked over his shoulder and down the street. ‘I don’t see any little old ladies, or puppies about so at least some are safe.’

She slugged him in the arm. He flinched away from her rubbing at it, laughing harder.

‘Do you want me to drive?’ He asked through his laughter.

‘As if! You don’t know where you're going!’ she pouted.

‘It’s safer to walk then.’ He teased her further.

'Spike, just get on! If I wanted to kill you, it wouldn’t be in a tragic scooter accident.’ She rolled her eyes, exasperated, then flushed pink at his bold perusal.

'There she is. There’s his girl.’ He thought.

Spike set the small cooler bag down, snaked his hand through the length of her hair resting it on the nape of her neck. Using his fingers as if pushing a button, he tipped her head back just enough to turn her mouth up to meet his, then kissed her warm lips so softly, she shivered and leaned into him. Deepening the kiss at her response, he kept her there until he felt he said a proper hello, breaking away just before things could become indecent. Holding her, was heaven, and she was letting him. Strands of her silken hair, slid smoothly over his jaw and his simply existed in the moment until she pulled away. The worry in her eyes told him the cheese had definitely slid off the cracker, but they weren’t in danger. She would never keep something like that from him. He had personally been witness to a wide-ranging display of his Slayer’s emotions. This wasn’t danger. It was dread and…resignation. Whatever it lay at the heart of this current debacle was likely going to take time to sort, was definitely someone’s fault, and he obviously wasn’t going to like it. He could do with an evening of the ole ‘rough and tumble’ before heading out to manage the next crisis with her.

'She’s breathtaking.’ He thought with a sigh, trailing a finger over her lips.

The action chased the worry from her eyes, replacing it with heat and invitation. Sensation prickled at his fingertips, shooting a pulse of ‘want’ through his arm and into his chest, demanding he do ‘more’ with those fingers. ‘When your eyes sparkle that way, Kitten. Does things to me.’ He confessed in a husky whisper. Trailing the tips of his fingers over her collar bone, he slipped behind her, pulled on the helmet and settled himself on the back of the scooter.

Shivering as his fingertips slid over her, she pulled her helmet on and mounted the scooter. Once she wiggled herself into a comfortable position, she pushed the start button and pulled away from the Lab. Spike hands settled on her hips, his left hand snaking its way around to rest on her thigh. Her body never failed to react to his touches or timber of his voice and this evening was no different. She was practically ablaze and knew he could feel it, when he snugged himself securely to her backside. The hard length of him produced another bloom of heat from her body and she hauled in a breath to steady herself, trying concentrate on driving.

It was useless.

His right hand slipped under her shirt and around her rib cage, his thumb grazing the underside of her breast. Occupied the way she was, there was little she could do short of pulling over, to make him stop. In the past, allowing him this kind of access to her body made her feel afraid and off balance. Her intense physical reaction to him had always confused her, it’s acute headiness overwhelmed her and warred with her need for control. Not tonight though. Tonight, she wanted him flat on his back, while she allowed herself to do all of those things, she had fantasized about doing to him. Smiling slyly, she wiggled her backside against him. The groan that came bubbling out of him almost had her pulling over. Almost.

Spike spent a full five minutes ignoring her body in his hands, bumping along over the oddly paved road taking in the scenery. Everything in this place was new and gleaming, but it was completely deserted and overgrown, the pungent smell of old corpses permeated everything. It was definitely a city or maybe a ‘campus,’ but either way, it was creepy. Even the sky was different.

‘It’s a mystery.’ He decided letting it go, because the heat coming off his Slayer was driving him mad. Letting his hands play over her warm body, he gloried in the feel of her. When she wiggled her tight ass across his crotch, he nearly made her pull over. Gripping her thigh, he flicked his thumb over her center and she slowed the scooter. He smiled knowing, but she surprised him by pulling into a parking lot, explaining they had arrived. He thought, ‘Well, that didn’t take long.’ Then realized he was mistaken, they were at a warehouse, not a home. Parking, she pulled her helmet off and waited for him. ‘Yeah, not cockeyed at all…’ As far as he could tell, the building was as deserted as everything else. He followed though.

It was obviously deserted, just like everything else. Parking, she pulled her helmet off and w

Entering through the unlocked front door, she called ‘Lights’ and walked on.

‘Neat trick, that.’ He thought as the lights flickered on. He was acutely aware of the apprehension flowing off of her, replacing the desire of a scant moment ago. Silently traversing a long corridor, they stopped at a heavy steed door, boasting a combination pad. Not entering a combination, she pulled the door open and stepped through. Following, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the room. In the darkness of the room, easily the size of a soccer pitch, thousands of indicator’s bounced small beams of light off of a multitude of reflective surfaces.

For several beats, he attempted to make sense of what he was looking at. Stepping to the cylinder nearest him, he looked down at the frosted glass, unable to fully see what was inside. When he realized it was a person, he looked at her, consternation screaming confused questions at the rate of several bloody hells a minute.

‘Lights.’ She called. 

At once the lights flickered on and he could see Willow’s tell-tale red hair. Stepping to the next tube he saw Xander, then the Nibblet, then Red’s sweetie pie. ‘Where is Giles?’ he inquired, worry tinging the question.

‘At home.’ She answered evasively.

‘Who is this?’ he asked, pointing to the tube next to Faith.

‘A ‘hunter.’ I can’t remember if his name is Sam, or Dave.’ She supplied.

Spike straightened, ‘Who the bloody hell are they?’ he blurted, gesturing at the room broadly.

‘I don’t know.’ She answers, her voice heavy, eyes sad.

Nothing he considered since waking up, could have prepared him for…this.

‘What the bollock’s is this?’ he breathed, a little panicked.

Buffy took his hand, pulling him through the tubes, toward the door. She could feel his panic rising. ‘I don’t know. The last thing I remember is Angel getting my attention, then directing it at Riley. Then, I just remember you and then nothing.’

‘Where is Soldier Boy now?’ Spike asked.

Buffy pointed, ‘There. Don't forget you promised me.’ She reminded him.

His jaw ticked, getting a work out while he held his tongue. He nodded, acknowledging that he had promised, but jerked to a halt again when he saw Illyria. ‘How the bloody…’ he began wondering how they got her in there, but was distracted by another mop of red hair. Utterly suspicious now, he gestured at the tube, ‘Explain this…’ he demanded.

Buffy shook her head, ‘I don’t know. He was just, in the tubes.’

He pulled his mouth together in irritation, mindful of his promise he minded his tone, but ground through his teeth, ‘Okay, just explain this one thing. If Giles is at home, why is Dawn in one of these?’

‘I…don’t want to wake her up until I… It’s going to take time. I…’ she stammered to answer.

‘Buffy…’ he warned, gently.

‘I know. It’s…complicated. It will be better, if we are all, present. When we ‘reanimate’ her.’

Spike’s eyebrow lifted at the word, ‘reanimate.’ Probably wasn’t the best word for her to use, seeing as how this entire city was dead. There wasn’t a peep or noise out there and it was definitely over stocked on corpses.

‘That’s…it. That is all I can tell you tonight.’ She said, regretfully.

He ground his teeth, needing to leave this room and punch something, he began looking for a way to dispel his irritation, curiosity, anger, and who bloody knew what else. Sucking his teeth, he did something he rarely did, he hauled in a huge lungful of air, held it, then let it out in a cleansing rush. ‘I did promise. Let’s go, luv.’

‘Thank you.’ She smiled, uneasily. Then surprising him, she pressed a quick, hard kiss to his lips.

Taking his hand again, she tugged him along behind her calling ‘Lights.’ They flickered off and five minutes later, she parked in front of a hi-rise apartment building. The building itself was dark, but the streetlights and lampposts all burned brightly. Everything thing they passed was familiar, but different. Cars that looked like pimped out golf carts lined the streets. Vehicles sat everywhere, but there was no traffic. Most noticeable though was the silence. The absence of ambient noise one expects in a city, was unsettling. Sliding off the scooter, he retrieved the bag from its basket and followed her inside. Stepping inside the lift, she pressed the P and the lift began its ascent.

‘Giles shares the top floor with us.’ She explained, breaking the silence. ‘He’s on the north side of the building, which puts us on the south, facing the city.’

She nearly blew it, beginning to explain that Miranda rotated the same as Earth, but hastily covered it saying, ‘I thought you would prefer it that way, Willow, Kennedy, Xander, Andrew, Faith, Robin and the rest, will be on the floors below us.’

The lift stopped and the door opened into a short small vestibule, leading to two doors. One on either side of a marbled expanse of floor. In the center was a sturdy round table, holding the massive sculpture of a vase of flowers. It was impressive. Stepping out of the lift, Buffy moved to the left and opened the door there, not bothering to use a combination to open it. Holding the door wide, she motioned him in and closed the door.

‘Lights. Dim.’ She called, illuminating the room. Nervously, she gestured, ‘Don’t worry about all of the windows. There are shutters.’ 

Walking into the space, he turned a circle taking it all in. The windows, the waterwall, the furniture, the fixtures, the size. Puzzled, her turned to her, ‘This is ours? Our home? We live here?’ He asked, pointing at the floor.

She shrugged and nodded, gesturing for him to follow, she felt like Vanna White, ‘There’s more!’ She joked silently, leading him into the palatial kitchen, dining, family area.

As well as a massive dining table set on the far side of the room, a breakfast bar to the right, capable of seating eight, separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. A full bar, with coolers, taps, ice machine and a giant television set into the wall above it, resided opposite the dining table, wedged between it and the waterwall. Two massive sofa’s that resembled sectionals faced each other in the center of the room. Three coffee tables sat between them. Scattered atop the tables were baubles of differing sorts. Both rooms were decorated in warm, neutral tones of wood and fabrics. For all its size and grandeur, it was soft, homey, and resembled the house on Revello. Walking toward the amazing windows, he looked out over the city. His demon didn’t sense a single living creature out there.

‘Are we in China?’ he wondered.

‘I call this the war room.’ She said, from the kitchen. ‘I figure we can hold meetings in here.’

Warming him a mug of her blood, she waited for him to ask the same questions she had, figuring that after the warehouse, they were going to talk regardless of if she were ready or not.

‘Meetings about what?’ he wondered, without asking.

The pungent smell of blood reached his nose and he flinched. It was hers. A promise, was a promise, but this was out of hand. His Slayer, just warmed a mug of her own blood for him. Enough was enough.

‘Where are we?’ he asked, ignoring the blood she offered him.

‘Miranda.’ She answered, blood extended. ‘No more questions.’

‘I’m not drinking that, Pet.’ He said, taking a step back.

‘Spike…’ she sighed.

‘No…’ he reiterated seriously, talking over her.

‘…please eat. I, need to get your clothes off of you.’ She confessed, pointedly.

Stubbornly, he refused to take the mug from her.

Perversely, she blew across the liquid, stirring the scent. When he remained stubbornly frozen, she rolled her eyes, reached for his hand, and physically set the mug into it. ‘Please, eat.’ She said, making it a request, not a command, gently lifting the mug toward his mouth.

Every part of him went rigid while he stared at her over the rim of the steaming mug scorching his palm. Swallowing hard, he quickly downed the contents in three large gulps, convulsing as the thick liquid hit his tongue. No doubt, it was her he acknowledged, but something was…different. Swallowing a few more times, working the residue from his mouth he wondered at the taste, considering what the difference could be.

‘The Doctor made it.’ She explained, prompted by his frowny face.

‘Oh.’ He nodded understanding, ‘So, not yours.’

‘It’s mine. He made it from a sample of mine.’ She explained.

She took the mug, gesturing at it her expression asking if he wanted another.

‘No. Thank you.’ He said, with a shake of his head.

Curiously, he had been hungry and the blood helped, but he didn’t want any more. It was odd. The urge to gorge himself on blood should have been overwhelming. It was her blood after all. Blinking, he thought that through.

‘Like the bloody Twilight Zone!’ he snorted, while she rinsed the mug in the sink.

Twice this evening she made it clear that she intended him to live here, next she fed him her blood…no, force fed him her blood. Any moment, she was going to start demanding something else from him.

‘I’m still in one of those bloody tubes, aren’t I! No, more like, I’m on drugs. I’m in an opium den in China! That’s it. Next, she’s going to slug me in the mouth and blame this entire thing on me, demanding to know why I did it.’ He taunted himself.

None of that was happening though, because there she was. He could see her, touch her, smell her. This relaxed, strangely domestic scene in which she fed him her blood, was actually happening.

After several moments of allowing him to think, Buffy said, ‘Come on. I’ll show you the rest.’ Taking his hand again, she pulled him through the kitchen and into a hallway on the back side, turning right, then left through a door calling, ‘Lights.’ Then explaining, ‘This is Dawn’s room.’

It was perfect. The walls were a deep teal. The shades over the windows a shimmery purple and an orange throw blanket was arranged over a cream coverlet on the bed. The room looked like it could be on the Grateful Dead’s tour bus. It was bright and happy. The floor was a dark wood parquet. She had her own bathroom and a wall full of windows, opening out the incredible view. There was a television on the wall and a picture of the Nibblet, Joyce, and Buffy on the table beside the bed.

‘It’s perfect, she’s going to love it.’ He smiled.

Buddy nodded, smiling in agreement. It was perfect. She’d spent weeks on it.

‘Upstairs.’ She said, waving him out of the room and pulling the door closed.

At the end of the hall, stairs wrapped around and up the corner. At the top, a wide corridor, railed with the same soft green glass as the waterwall, ran the length of the upstairs. Half way down the corridor, she opened a set of double doors leading into a sitting area. There were shelves full of baubles, a few scattered photos, a sofa and two easy chairs. The inevitable ginormous screen was set into the wall bordering the outside corridor. Through an arch, a king size bed dominated the sleeping space. The bathroom, was the only thing in the penthouse that wasn’t done in color. It was stark, clinical, bright, clean, white, tile, glass and chrome. It was also huge, containing an Olympic size tub, double shower, separate vanities, the whole shebang. 

‘This is our room.’ She explained.

Much the same as the living room, he turned in a circle taking it in.

‘She said ‘our room,’ he thought, his perusal of the space coming to a stop at the bathroom.

Buffy pulled him away from the bathroom, to the opposite side of the huge bedroom, pushing open the door to what was presumably the closet she said, ‘This is your room.’

‘Lights. Dim.’ She said, revealing the space to him.

The closet was huge. Fully the same size as the bathroom. It was painted entirely black. The furniture was white, including the queen size bed. It sported thick, soft, red sheets and the coverlet was black. Night stands held chrome lamps and actual books, rested on top. There was a telly, not one of those huge monstrosities he kept seeing, but a normal size telly. Their clothes hung along the back wall. He went to inspect them.

'She got him clothes…he liked them.' he realized.

‘Do you like it?’ she asked, tentatively.

‘Yes, he liked it. He loved it. It’s everything he could have ever hoped for. It scared the hell out of him.’ He realized, and a tremor erupted through him causing him to shudder. His Slayer, all soft and looking for his approval. ‘Better not be in one of those bloody tubes.’ He thought, morbidly

’Yes. Thank you, Pet.’ He stammered haltingly, having no idea what else to say.

Daring to hope that everything was going to be alright he smiled at her. 'Maybe.’ His heart whispered to him, ‘If the light in her eyes is any indication.' 

Everything she felt, was always ever in her eyes. What they were saying to him right now, made him senseless with wonder and need. He leaned past her, taking the door in his hand, he began pushing it closed. Walking her backward as he went, he leaned in to kiss her as it clicked shut.

‘It’s always been you.’ She whispered, before he could kiss her.

The whisper jolted him to a stop. Hesitating to be certain he heard her, his soul impatient and howling, rocketed into his chest and exploded there. Heat, like thunder rumbled inside of him and he could swear, he felt his heart beat. If his hand weren’t bracing his weight, he would have hit his knees. Lifting his free hand, he slid his thumb along her cheek and into her hair.

Before he could kiss her, she weaved, unsteadily. Determined to say what she needed to, she leaned in, holding him in place, her lips blowing hot breath against his velvet soft skin of his jaw, ‘I left you there.’ Voice cracking, she vowed, ‘I shouldn’t have and I will never leave you again.’ Feeling him tense, she tipped her head back to look into those excessively blue eyes, ‘Never. Again.’

Pressed her mouth to his, she sealed the words for all time, making the kiss sacred, akin to a wedding vow. Pouring everything she ever felt for him, but never had the courage to say into it. She gave herself to him freely and completely feeling the vow snap into place and solidify.

Spike groaned against her mouth, sliding up her body with his own, trapping her against the door and holding her there. This was…different. This was what he always wanted from her. This, connection. She was giving it to him. It washed over him in a warm, languid wave of pure sensation. It was intense, gentle, brutal, and sensual. 

At his groan, she slid her hands down his torso, to the hem of his black t-shirt. Skimming her fingers over the worn fabric, she tucked them inside resting them on the taut muscles of his stomach.

The kiss deepened into something expectant and passionate.

Slowly gliding her fingertips up his chest, she inched the t-shirt up his body, stopping to brush the pads of her thumbs, playfully over his nipples. Something she knew he liked. Dragging his lips from hers, he pulled the t-shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor. Another groan echoed in his chest when her tongue replaced the pad of her thumb. Flaxen hair, skimmed lightly over his other nipple, teasing it. Head, falling back to rest on his shoulders, he hissed and chuckled as she bit down. Not too hard, just hard enough. She really did know his body, which was why the slight warmth she felt on his skin, distracted her. At first, thinking it was her own body transferring heat, she was proven wrong after nipping at him. His body flared with not exactly heat, but a ‘tepid’ warmth she was unaccustomed to.

Pulling his nipple from between her lips to mention it, he dipped, taking her mouth with his before she could. He skimmed her own nipple with the pad of his thumb, a sure sign she aroused him with her teeth. If she weren’t careful, he would have her up against this door in a minute and she wouldn’t get to say the things she needed to say to him tonight. As interesting as his nipple’s temperature was, the discussion menu for tonight was set.

Unable to resist, she kissed him a moment longer, digging her hands into his hair, biting his lower lip, gently tugging to get his attention. His smile, let her know she had it and she let go, sucking it as it slipped from her mouth. Hands, tightening in his hair, she gently pulled exposing his throat, ‘You’ve always pushed me to acknowledge what I want for myself. It was always you.’ She breathed the words against his skin, licking at the straining muscles of his throat.

His body bucked in response to the caress of her tongue.

‘Thank you.’ She whispered softly, nipping at his earlobe then sucking the pain away. ‘I want you to keep teaching me how to say yes, to the things I want. Yes, to myself. Yes, to you.’ Moving her fevered body tantalizingly against his, refusing to pull away when her shyness threatened to derail her, she brushed a feather light kiss across his mouth. Allowing herself to accept the way touching him made her feel, was a part of this evening. Empowered, she flicked her tongue across his full bottom lip. Following her instincts, she simply allowed herself to act, slipping her hand down his body to gently squeeze his erection through his jeans.

Passion glazed eyes flew to hers, ‘What you do to me, Slayer.’ He choked. The last shred of his intoxicated willpower burnt away in the heat she created. He could no longer stay still and allow her free reign of his body. Drunk with wanting her, the growl he emitted warned her she would, ‘Likely be screaming his name shortly.’ He boasted to himself. 

Buffy’s confidence redoubled at the sound she wrenched from him. His fever bright eyes, had her own glittering with challenge. Basking freely in the power she cultivated for herself, she let it course unchecked, through her body. Her exploration became more adventurous as she slowly pulled the zipper down on his jeans. Reaching inside, she slid her palm over his hard, petal soft Vampire bits. This wasn’t their first time together. This wasn’t even the first time she let herself want him. It wasn’t the first time she couldn’t keep her hands off of him, exploring his body. It was, however, the first time she touched him with a clear conscience and it was making all the difference.

‘She’s going to kill me.’ He confessed to himself raggedly, trying not to spill himself in her hand like some untried school boy. Thirty seconds ago, he wouldn’t have believed it possible to be any harder. Then those goddess green eyes started flashing trust and promises at him, saying he was everything in the world and stroking his bollocks to prove it. ‘Torture.’ Her innocence was an aphrodisiac to him, especially in the beginning, but this invitation…

‘No, that’s not right.’ He corrected himself. ‘It’s this 'provocation' driving you mad.’

Provocation was coercing him. He wanted to be inside of her, on her, around her. Wanting all of her, all at once, right now! He shook with need of her and forcing himself to stillness was an agony. Gathering his nearly shredded control, he calmed his over stimulated body before he wrenched her knickers down and found himself hunched over, rutting into her as if this were quick roll in the crypt. It wasn’t. They were at home, where they would wake up next to each other in the morning.

The heat of her hand was driving him mad. Biting his lip, he held her eyes reprimanding himself.

‘Bloody look at her, asking for the man you promised her. Give her what she wants, you wanker!’

The problem was, he didn’t know what she expected because she was a giant, quivering, nerve wreaking havoc on his senses. ‘You’re overthinking it, mate. It’s Buffy, you know her better than you know yourself.’ Hadn’t she just told him that? Replaying the last several minutes, with difficulty, he flipped file cards. Blah blah blah blah, ‘teaching me to say yes to myself and you’ full stop.

While lost in his thoughts, she had begun unbuckling his belt. Gathering her hands in his, he folded them over her stomach, forcing her to stop. He took a step back and focused. A frustrated whimper found it way through her lips and she tried to step forward. He held her in place and pushed her arms over her head, holding them there. Heat surged through her body, a sure signal that he did the right thing. 

‘Stay.’ He instructed and stepped away, knowing she wouldn’t.

Confusion clouded her eyes before she could remember that allowing him to be in control was also part of what this evening was about. She wanted him, damnit! As she was about to reach for him again, he surged forward pressing her firmly against the door once more, holding her there.

‘Tsk tsk, Kitten.’ He teased, whispering, ‘Only good Kitties get cream.’

His Slayer, blushed scarlet. ‘Too much, too soon.’ He realized.

Rallying, he pulled her back into the moment with light, sensual kisses, reminding himself there was all the time in the world and he could play later. Skimming his fingers down her raised arms he intensified the moment, cupping her breasts he squeezed and thrust his tongue in her mouth, reigniting the fire inside her. Dropping her arms to encircle his neck, her leg followed, winding around his waist. She was all twining limbs and lips and it nearly killed him, but he untangled her and put her arms above her head again. 

Shaking his head, he mouthed, ‘No.’

Groaning, she strained forward, trying to kiss him.

He pressed a finger to her parted lips, ‘None of that now.’ He chastised softly.

Heat in her glassy green eyes screamed frustration and confusion.

Softly he coaxed, ‘Stay…’ in a tone that said, ‘Trust me.’

She stilled at the promise in that tone.

Smiling, he adjusted his erection and stepped back to admire the picture she presented.

Surprising him, she stayed put.

Resisting the urge to simply rip her clothing off, he stepped forward, tucked a finger inside the V of her thin, lacy, blouse, and gave a tug. The blouse gapped open, giving him a clear view of her cleavage. Lazy appreciation curled his lips and with a slight bit of pressure the button popped open.

She inhaled slow and deep, biting the corner of her mouth.

He repeated the action with the next button and the next until her blouse hung lose, exposing her torso. Pushing the folds of the blouse open, he ran his fingers over the lacy, white, edge of her bra. Tiny pink bows attached the straps to the cups.

‘I like this.’ He murmured softly.

Using the tip of his finger, he pulled the lacy fabric away from her breast and peered inside.

Smiling at the taught pink nipple, he looked up to tell her he liked that too, but her eyes fluttered closed. Nervously she licked her bottom lip and shivered with the effort it took to stay still. She was hiding from him. ‘That will have to stop.’

The low, ‘mmmm’ he emitted from deep in his throat as she flicked her tongue over her bottom lip, had her eyes fluttering open as quickly as they closed. He grinned at her lasciviously and unbelievably, she felt herself blush again. At first, his ‘slowing things down’ annoyed her. It took until now, to remember she asked him for this.

Spike watched in fascination as her flesh turn a rosy pink.

‘Never seen anything so beautiful in my entire existence.’ He assured himself.

Even if there was a stake at his heart, he wouldn’t be able to hurry after that blush. He wanted to see it again. Needed to see it again. Stepping into the space between them, he lifted her hair away from her neck and placed soft kiss on her pulse point, laying his tongue against it. She squirmed against him and the pulse began hammering. Laving the spot, allowing himself the time to enjoy the thrum, he moved closer brushing his erection against her bare stomach. It was the sweetest torture. She swayed against him now, unable to stay still any longer, but careful to keep her hands where he put them. He trailed kisses to her breast while she sank fully into the sensations he aroused in her. Reaching her breast, he caught her lace covered nipple with his teeth and tugged firmly but gently. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he pulled the lace away and sucked.

‘Spike…!’ Desire flooded the V between her legs, soaking her panties.

Losing the nipple, smiled knowingly and let go of her arms, lowering them to her sides.

‘There’s my girl.’ He said, slowly sliding her blouse off. It joined his shirt on the floor. The adorable bra followed soon after and she reached for him, but he insisted, ‘Don’t move, luv.’ His own voice thick with wanting. Trailing his fingertips over her torso, goose flesh rose wherever he touched her. Whispering in her ear, while slowly circling a finger around her navel, he said, ‘Your skin is like warm rose petals.’ Her muscles tensing and relaxing as he made the circles. Always their sexual encounters were quick and urgent, like an endurance race. Tonight, was going to be different. He moved over her body his with mouth and fingers, watching the way she responded to him. He would first touch, then kiss, then lick, then bite or suck the same spot. Repeating the experiment in a new spot. When she was breathing hard, practically vibrating with need, he stopped to look. Holding her eyes with his, he liked what he saw.

She hadn’t felt him undo her slacks, only registered the cool air on her legs as the pooled around her ankles. She did feel him pull at her white lace panties and she began to help him. His hands fell over hers instantly and once again, she found them above her head. She sent him a pleading looking, but gasped and closed her eyes moaning loudly when he slipped strong fingers past the elastic band of the panties and into her swollen, soaking wetness, to begin immediately making small tight circles over her clitoris. Shaking, she strained to remain still, but couldn’t. Sucking in a frenzied breath her hips ground against the contact and she tumbled forward, losing all thought or control governing her body. Easing the pressure of his fingers he slowed and she cried in frustration.

‘Look at me, baby.’ He commanded softly, pressing slightly harder, but not increasing his speed.

Another cry came from inside the curtain of her hair. When she didn’t comply, he stopped making the slow circles altogether. Her whimper of protest was loud, but she complied lifting her head off of his chest, pressing her back and shoulders against the door once more. The moment her half-lidded eyes caught his again, he slipped a finger deep inside of her. Her mouth fell open as pure pleasure enveloped her. Before she could make a sound, he took her mouth in a kiss that buckled her knees and slipped another finger inside of her. Blinding white haze detonated around her. Using his body to pin her against the door, he held her upright while she came all over his fingers. Breathing hard, he wrenched his mouth from hers and watched in awe as her body flushed a deeper pink and then bright red, shaking hard with the force of her release.

‘So beautiful.’ He whispered.

Watching her was intensely satisfying. 

‘Come to me, baby.’ He crooned to her, calling her back to him. He wasn’t finished with her yet, not by a long shot. ‘I wish you could see yourself right now. God woman you are so beautiful.’ Stroking his fingers in and out of her, he watched while she unabashedly did what he asked and came again, this time his name flying from her mouth, blowing the strands of her hair away from her flushed face.

His dick pulsed hard at the picture she presented.

Knickers pooled around her ankles, panties around knees turned slightly inward, body flushed bright pink and shaking, gripping the door knob to hold herself erect all the while her eyes held his through the curtain of her hair.

She was glorious. He wanted her badly. Wanted to flip her around and sink himself into her up to the bollocks, but couldn’t stop taking in the sight of her. He’d done this to her. He wanted to beat his chest and howl at the moon. He realized he was grinning like an idiot and didn’t even care. 

He was so hard he could hammer nails with his cock.

Pulling his fingers from her, she collapsed against him. He scooped her up turning, for the bed, laying her out on it like a Goddess. Crawling between her legs, buried his mouth in her. She arched off of the bed, a guttural moan of surprise keening from her. Digging her hands into his hair, she babbled breathlessly ‘I do, yes, in my system, in my blood, please, right…there, yes, oh…oh…more.’ Trying to hang on, she failed, losing herself completely in the next wave that broke over her. When she was back in her body, it trembled uncontrollably, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

Gathering her into his arms he rolled her, pressing her back to his chest, holding her tightly against him. Pulling the soft wool throw over her, he tucked it around her. Nuzzling the spot behind her ear, dropping kisses there, whispering everything he felt for her as it poured out of him. It was broken, but she heard him. ‘Love you...help me...beautiful...want you...never leave.'

Holding her through the night, he thought about what he ever did in his miserable life that he was able to get a second chance and be where he was right this second. He didn’t understand. A tornado of thoughts swirled through his mind. He reached out to catch one. In the throws of an orgasm in which his face was buried between her legs, she began repeating words he had said to her long ago.

‘You’re in my system.’

Fear and panic work its way to the front, demanding that he remember he wanted this. ‘Wanting’ something was vastly different compared to the responsibility of ‘having’ something.

The realization terrified him. Every single fear, want, need… Everything he ever felt for her or because of her settled over him. It scared the bloody hell out of him. 

He promised her a man. She finally accepted. Now he had to deliver.

He closed his eyes and tried to rest. His raging hard on wouldn’t allow it.

Or the silence of the empty city outside.

‘Bollocks…’ he muttered.


	15. Fifteen

**Fifteen**

Kaylee stretched and rolled away from the solid warmth of Simon to turn off the alarm clock.

She was already asleep when he came in last night and hadn’t heard him. Worn out from a long day with River and her parents in the strawberry patch, she took a shower and went straight to bed.

‘Not just the strawberry patch…’ she reminded herself.

She spent a good portion of the morning at the hydro-farm as well, but the strawberries were sweeter if they grew in the dirt. She loved working at the farm, but the strawberry patch was her pet project. Farming wasn’t as easy for her as engines, but she enjoyed the challenge of working at and tending something until you achieved the best possible result. So, farming was _sort of_ like engines. You had to tinker with it.

Rolling back to Simon, she snuggled into his sleep warmed body.

He draped an arm over her and turned toward her, burrowing closer. Dropping a kiss on the top of her head as he came fully awake, he croaked through morning breath, ‘Good morning, Mrs. Tam.’

‘Good morning, Husband.’ She replied, snaking an arm across his naked body and squeezing.

They were married about three months now.

So far, all either of them had to say about marriage except for the obvious, was that it was _an ‘adjustment.’_ They seemed to be doing okay with the adjusting, but it was only because neither of them was truly selfish. So, far as they could tell, was what marriage really was. Just because neither of them was selfish, didn’t mean they didn’t want a thing or…some things though, because they did.

Want certain things.

It was…an adjustment. 

They never argued about things, just made adjustments. They mostly tiptoed around issues until they were resolved or accepted to the mutual satisfaction of either party. Neither of them dealt well with confrontation, so they didn’t fight. It wasn’t worth the uncomfortable feeling they had with each other afterward. Although sometimes, it was difficult for each of them to let a thing go.

Take the coffee maker for example. Simon liked it where it was, but every time Kaylee tried to cook something, she had to move it. This, for a few different reasons, was very annoying. First, it took up a lot of work space on the counter. Second, she had to move it when she cooked, or there was a mess splattered all over it if she didn’t. Simon, _never_ moved the pot if he cooked anything. So, she ended up having to wash down the pot, every time he cooked. Both of those things made the placement of the pot troublesome for her, but he liked it there. So, she left it. It was a little thing, but it was just one more thing she had to deal with during the day.

As for Kaylee, she thought since Simon didn’t use all of his side of the closet, she could use the space he didn’t. As a result, he had to run an iron over his shirts every day because she never left enough room for them to hang without being smushed. Every. Day. It didn’t take him any time to do it really, but he’d done it once already. He wanted to take a shirt out of the closet and put it on. The closet was enormous. He shouldn’t have to iron every day.

It was ‘small things’ like these, they were adjusting to.

‘So, what do you have planned for the day?’ she asked, snuggling him.

‘I’m…not sure.’ He answered, uncomfortably.

‘I…we…woke up the blond…ugh, Spike last night.’ He stammered, waiting.

‘What?’ she demanded! ‘I…you told me you would let me…’

‘I know what I said.’ He cut her off, ‘But it was for the best to do it this way. Buffy asked that it just be the two of them. It was the proper thing to do.’ He insisted.

‘Oh…here we go with the _proper_ thing again.’ She complained.

‘You wouldn’t like strangers gawking at us if we were reuniting after five hundred years. To my way of thinking this was the prop… _correct_ way to do it.’ He adjusted, knowing how she felt about the word proper.

‘Anyway, you’ll get to meet him soon enough.’ Simon said, defensively.

‘Captains not going to like it.’ She replied knowingly.

‘I’ll talk to Mal. If he feels that strongly about it, he can be there for the next one, but you would think getting punched in the mouth twice now, would clue him in that he needs to give Buffy a little time to explain the way of things to her people. They need a minute to understand that he isn’t who they think he is.’ Simon explained reasonably.

‘Mmmm, I guess.’ She relented, yawning.

‘What did you do yesterday?’ he asked, changing the subject.

‘Spent most of the day at the farm, but I worked in the strawberry patch a little as well.’ She fibbed. ‘I figure if we’re going to have all these extra mouths to feed, we better start looking at where to put the expansion.’ She said, yawning yet again. She was _really_ tired.

‘Kaylee, there are three other hydro-farms in the city.’ He stated.

‘Be that as it may, we don’t have enough hands to work them.’ she replied.

He nodded, pondering the situation, ‘Maybe, we can do supply runs, until we have enough hands to run them?’

‘Could be.’ She said.

‘How many farms do you think need to be planted? All four or will just the two be enough?’

‘Well, probably just ours and another, fully planted.’ She answered. ‘At some point, even though I hate to say it, we’re going to need livestock. These people were ravenous meat eaters. I looked it up.’ She said.

‘Well, they might have been, but it was horrible for them health wise, not to mention the environment. They’ll have to make changes to their diet if they plan on living on Miranda. We can’t have that kind of slaughter going on here constantly. It wouldn’t be good for River.’ 

Kaylee tried not to roll her eyes and failed.

Stopping herself from saying something ‘smart,’ she thought about what he was saying. It had merit, even if he had misunderstood her. She didn’t mean they should open a slaughterhouse, for Pete sake. Just that they were going to need some meat. She was thinking ahead.

Kaylee learned almost from the beginning that her sister-in-law would be one of the main focuses of their lives and she signed on for it anyway. Never regretted it. River had _grown_ so much over the last several years. Despite what her husband thought, his sister didn’t need him as much as she had before. Fortunately, that meant there was time for the two of them. Something that had never been available before and Kaylee enjoyed not having to plan each day around River’s needs.

Simon however, had difficulty with his sisters loosened reigns. Allowing River some freedom, went against the grain and he struggled to remember she no longer required constant observation. River was 21 now and chafed at Simon’s vigilance. She did require a small bit of daily supervision, but it wasn’t anything remotely close to what had been needed in the beginning. 

Occasionally, Kaylee did find herself reacting negatively when Simon over reacted to simple things like _meat_. It was a knee jerk thing. She knew he was right and that what she was feeling was merely a _learned_ response to behavior she developed during the rough patch they went through a while back. 

‘I…you’re right.’ She acknowledged, letting it go.

One day he would see that River was okay and that it was time to take her take the next step in life. She just hoped that one day was sooner rather than later. Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she tuned in to what Simon was saying,

‘Buffy’s been adamant about waking her people up slowly. Mainly because of the shock to the system and the strain on our resources. She certainly doesn’t want to wake up 100’s of teenage girls without a way to take care of or manage them. It is her intention to wake up the adults and her strongest people first. I’m sure that once we explain the situation to them and they’ve adjusted, they’ll be happy to learn what needs to be done and help with the gardening.’ He offered.

Kaylee strove for patience, ‘That sounds like it will be… _helpful._ It’s not just food though, Simon. It’s everyday things as well. Toothbrushes, birth control, shampoo, laundry sheets, and those things that we use every day that we don’t even think about.’ She reminded him.

He nodded, ‘I get it, Kaylee. It’s a big job, and you are asking me for help. I realize that I’ve been caught up in the… _fascination_ of it all. I’ll focus and help you and the others with the rest.’ He promised.

‘Good. Because God knows the Captain won’t pull himself away from patrolling The Signal long enough to take notice of what’s happening himself. I wish he could see we’re safe and that he can take a breath. Enjoy this life a little.’ She said, wistfully.

‘Don’t be so hard on him, Kaylee.’ Simon said, uncharacteristically supporting the Captain’s habits. Something he always did, when supporting Mal’s behavior was what would be the most beneficial thing for River. ‘What else is he supposed to do? He just wants us to be safe. After some time passes, he’ll relax.’ Her husband explained, ironically. ‘Besides, we don’t _know_ …

‘Simon!’ River barged into the bedroom, complaint ringing in her voice. ‘The blond one isn't in his tube!’ she accused.

‘River, what have I explained to you about knocking?’ he sighed, running a hand over his sleepy face. 

Kaylee caught a case of the giggles. Casting a glance at Simon, she waved River over and patted the bed for her to sit down. She really did love her sister-in-law, after all. A precocious smile crept across River’s lovely face and she skipped over, crawling into the bed between them, motioning for a pillow the same way a baby demanded a bottle with little ‘gimmie’ hands.

Simon flung one at her. 

She caught it deftly, tucking it between her and the bed, resting the weight of her body on her elbows and palming her chin.

‘It’s no wonder she…’

Simon trailed off as Kaylee ordered, ‘Hush!’ 

‘Don’t be cross with Simon, Mei Mei. I didn’t get to meet the Vampire either.’ Kaylee soothed.

River was still immature in many ways, but over the last several years, they worked with her tirelessly. For the most part she lived a fully functional, normal life. With the stable, nearly worry-free environment they had on Miranda, River was able to overcome many of the difficulties she faced. She was able to grow and mature. Now, she was just like any other woman in her early 20’s with a few exceptions.

Since they had allowed her free reign when they first came to Miranda, she struggled with things like personal space and privacy. She’d seen just about every one naked or in a ‘personal moment,’ at least once. It was especially difficult to break her of barging in on non-family members.

Kaylee remembered the first time Simon had ever punished his sister. What a debacle. She was caught sitting in the bathroom watching Zoe’s uncle shower, when his wife walked in. That had taken some masterful smooth talking on Simon’s part.

River hadn’t done anything like that in years though.

‘How’s my folks this morning?’ Kaylee asked. ‘Have you had breakfast?’

River had moved in with Kaylee’s parents after she and Simon were married. Kaylee’s mother explained it would ease their transition into married life, saying "Newlyweds needed their own space." 

So, River moved in with Kaylee’s parents. 

_‘Psh…’_ Kaylee had scoffed at the time, not knowing how right her mom had been.

‘They’re fine. I had an apple.’ She said, swinging her feet through the air.

‘River, I’m going on some supply runs, wanna come with me?’ Simon asked.

‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘I want to wake the girl up.’ She added.

Kaylee and Simon glanced at each other.

‘It’s not time yet. Her sister wants to wait.’ Simon explained.

‘She worries, but she shouldn’t. She hears.’ River said cryptically, playing with the tassel on the decorative pillow he’d thrown at her.

‘Why do you say that?’ he asked.

‘She worries what will happen, but it will be okay.’ She said, positively. 

He thought through what River was telling him. They were learning to listen when she said things like this. He mentioned to Buffy that River felt strongly about it. Buffy said she would consider it, but knew she had her reasons and he would respect her wishes. Mal agreed she had power over those decisions. Which was only right. Obviously. However, he should make time to talk to Buffy and see if he could get to the bottom of her fears when it came to her sister.

Right now, he should get up, get some breakfast, and maybe a little more alone time with Kaylee.

River quirked her mouth at him. 

_ ‘Damn. She’d heard him think that.’  _

‘Why don’t you go and find Jayne and ask him if he wants to come with us tomorrow. Tell him what we are going after. He will love that. Meet me back here later and I’ll take you with me when I go check on the tubes. When we're done with that, we're going to go and help Kaylee at the farm. Sound good?’

River nodded slyly, scooched off of the bed, ‘Bye.’

Standing outside of the door, she listened intently as Kaylee started giggling. Soon after the moaning started. She was so confused about what Simon called intimacy. So many emotions and thoughts. So many feelings. Maybe she would try what Simon and Kaylee were doing. 

_ ‘Someday.’  _

She turned and left to find Jayne.


	16. Sixteen

**Sixteen**

Spike worked through most of his anxiety while watching her sleep for several hours.

'Must've needed it.' He thought, not for the first time, unsure if he meant sleep or the physical release. From what he read in her eyes and body language he wasn’t surprised she slept this long, whichever the case may be. She was going to wake up soon though. Her breathing had changed and she rolled into a different position several times over the last few minutes. Her nose twitched as well. 

'Smells me.' he thought, absently. 

These were all tell-tale signs of Buffy waking up. He considered getting up to get her some water, but he wanted to be next to her when she woke up and decided, 'It can wait.'

All night he watched over her while she slept, listening for any sound in the utterly silent city. Not a peep to be heard. Even Giles was silent. 

One the first questions he needed answered, would be where and why. How many other warehouses were there? He nearly had an aneurism trying to sort it. Everything he came up with was preposterous. Eventually, he gave up and watched his Slayer sleep.

As predicted, her eyes fluttered open. It took her a few beats to get her bearings as the room was completely dark, except for the sliver of light that peeped under the door. While she could see better than the average human, she needed a moment to blink the sleep out of her eyes. Registering his presence, she reached for him. Taking her hand, he kissed her knuckles and laid it on his bare chest. Sliding it over his heart, her thumb brushing back and forth over his nipple.

‘Hi.’ She murmured shyly, tucking her body in close to his.

‘Luv.’ He answered, softly. 

‘I want you.’ She said, softly.

He had no argument with this. Had in fact, been fully erect since her nose twitched.

‘I want you now. All I’ve been thinking about for weeks is having you. I can’t wait any longer.’ 

Every molecule of her body urgently appealed to him, but he wasn't moving yet. Still wearing his jeans, she reached for the belt he wore and began working it. He let her. When his pants were open, she tangled her fingers in his pubic hair and pulled. 

‘Oh God.’ He breathed, 'Buffy...wait.'

He stilled her hand gently pushed her back on the bed and stood up. She began to protest the moment he rolled out of the bed, but quieted when he quickly divested himself of the rest of his clothing. Cracking the door, he opened it enough to allow more light in. If this was going to be anything like last night, he didn't want to miss anything. A small grin tugged at his lips while he took in her naked, sleep warmed body, then he rejoined her in the bed. As soon as he did, she curled into him.

‘Buffy…’

Putting her lips to his, she stopped whatever he was about to say. All she wanted, was to put the past behind them and get on with the right now. Talking wasn’t going to do that. Yes, she had things she wanted to say to him. Things he needed to understand. The only way that was going to happen, was to show him.

‘No more telling me I don't mean it!’

Crawling on top of him, she kissed him thoroughly, then kissed him again. ‘I love you.’ She said against his mouth, licking his bottom lip. The curtain of her hair enclosed them, she said it again. ‘I love you, Spike.' 

Stunned speechless by her intensity, he let her make slow exquisite love to him, starting with her hand, stroking the length of him slow and soft while she kissed him. That didn’t last long. Burying his hands in her glorious hair, he stopped sharing kisses with her, instead, stealing them from her mouth. His soft moans of pleasure escaping through kiss swollen lips. When he was on the brink of losing himself, he rolled with her slipping between her legs, letting his length graze her slick center.

‘I love you.’ She chanted, nearly senseless with wanting him. Pulling at him, she cried wordlessly, tears of frustration rolling from the corners of her eyes, 'Why is he waiting.' Finally understanding him, in a barely audible whisper, she said ‘Please…I love you.’

He nearly exploded against her scorching opening. All of the times he fantasized, prayed to hear those words come from her mouth, rushed at him, and she kept saying them. Sinking into her slowly, he allowed his body to adjust to the feel of her. Kissing the pulse in her throat, licking, and sucking at it, finally laying his tongue against it, the quick beat caused him to throb and bounce inside of her. It was glorious. When she couldn’t take the pressure anymore, she arched pulling at his hips hoping to force him the rest of the way inside. Maddeningly, he resisted, slipping slowly, inch by silky inch, taking his time. When he was completely inside her, she wound herself around him, ‘I love you.’

‘She feels like forever.’ He shuddered, as her legs wound around his waist. 

This was something he wanted his entire existence. To love someone who loved him in return. He knew she loved him. She hadn’t stopped telling him since the first kiss she pressed to his lips. Even now, she was breathing the words into the hollow of his throat.

‘I…love…you.’ she crooned.

He raised himself to tell her the same and saw that she was crying. 

‘Buffy?’ he began pulling away, thinking he’d hurt her, but then he saw it in her eyes.

‘I love you. Always. It’s always been you.’ She confessed, shining at him.

He understood then. For all of the times she denied him. For all of the times he behaved foolishly. For all of the times they fought, hurting each other. For the bathroom… She was telling him it was time to leave it in the past. In an unexplainable miracle they had a second chance. No way was he going to waste it.

Very slowly, he rolled his hips and slid into her again.

Every nerve in her body was focused on him, she sucked in a lung full of air breathing his name.

‘Spike…’

It sounded like an explosion and rocked him the same.

He pushed into her with painstaking slowness, over and over again, loving her with all of his long-neglected tenderness. He spoke his love and deepest fears to her as he pledged himself to her. His voice rough with the truth he spoke. 

‘I love you. I love you so much, it hurts. I’m terrified. Losing you was like a stake in the heart. I can’t ever do it again, luv. If you leave me, don’t tell me, just bloody kill me.’

‘Never again.’ She panted, shaking her head. ‘Never again.’

She wouldn’t stop saying it. ‘I love you.’ She said meeting each of his thrusts.

‘You smell like sunshine and you feel like honey. I crave the way you pour over me. I love the way your eyes glitter when you are happy, when you challenge me, tease me, when you're mad at me, it makes me so hard. It’s torture. I love the way you say my name when you want me. Makes me feel like I could conquer the bloody world. Makes me feel like a man.’ He said, not looking away from her, pushing into her with that delicious continuous slowness. 

‘I’m yours.’ He promised.

push

‘…and I am yours.’ She answered.

They bound themselves completely to each other with their words.

Increasing his rhythm, he made love to her in earnest. Wrapped tightly around him he cradled her body, one hand under her bottom, one behind her shoulder. She held his eyes so she wouldn’t lose herself too soon. He thrust into her with complete abandon, but kissed her with absolute reverence. Everything about her drove him to the edge, but hearing her voice speak promises to him, poetry, passion, rawness that wasn’t at all flowers and sunlight, was intensely satisfying.

‘Yes, there, that’s it. Oh…oh please. Do it...baby., oh God...push harder, Spike please...’

She was so close. He could feel her tightening around him.

‘The way you fill me.’ She said, between gasping breaths.

He felt like he would die if she kept talking.

Pure love, turned to insatiable lust formed a haze around them.

Her eyes were glassy, her breasts blushed their tell-tale soft pink. 

‘So close.’ he thrust deep.

And then, something very different happened. Her soul, pulled at his and they joined.

Shuddering, insensible, making sure she was ready, he demanded, ‘Now!’

‘This is all of me, take it. So close, please…please…’ She chanted and then it happened. She couldn’t stop it. Her body bowed sharply, and her eyes fluttered closed, ‘Oh…oh my God,’

‘Don’t...please. Oh God, don’t look away. Look at me!' he commanded. 'I want to see your eyes. Show me those beautiful green eyes, right now!’ He grunted, driving heavily into her. She forced her eyes open for him, ‘Thank God,’ focusing on him, not taking them away, driving him mad. He bucked into her wildly, gritting harshly, ‘You are bloody, fucking beautiful.’

She came so hard, that if he had breath in his body, she would have sucked it out of him. Her eyes gone soft and glazed smiled up at him as he poured his soul into her, then he collapsed between her breasts.

‘Love you so much.’ She repeated, dragging a hand through his curls.

Happy tears ran freely while she held him. The force of her emotions wouldn’t allow her to stop touching him. She caressed him, hugged him, kissed him while he lay spent between her thighs. She felt complete for the first time in her life. She was done with everything that had come before. As far as she was concerned, all there was between them anymore was this moment and whatever came after it. She should probably actually say that to him. 

He didn’t want to move. He could lie between her thighs, listening to her pounding heart and ragged breathing for all eternity. God what a woman. The things she did to his mind, to his body. He was ever a romantic, but she made him feel like Ares.

‘Are you hungry?’ she asked, after a moment.

‘I’m feeling a bit peckish, yeah.’ he replied, conversationally.

She nodded, kissed him, and slipped from the bed.

He laid his hand on his chest in wonder. His heart was beating. Not in a rhythm…

‘Whoa! What the hell are you doing here?’ she demanded.

He cleared the bed and was standing in the kitchen before she finished speaking. They were both completely nude and River was standing there looking innocent and guilty at the same time.

‘I…wanted to meet him.’ She said by way of explanation, pointing at Spike.

Buffy turned to see nude a Spike, hand clutched over his privates.

‘Well, as you can see,’ Buffy began, stepping in front of Spike trying not to giggle, ‘We're not prepared for company. So, you need to go and come back later.’ she instructed.

All at once she realized that Spike was standing in the kitchen and she panicked. Sunlight poured through the floor to ceiling windows and he wasn’t on fire. She actually realized it before she finished inviting River to leave and come back later. Her mouth popped open to protest as he walked tentatively toward the glass. Spike became more and more excited the closer he got to the window.

‘You’re not on fire!’ he screamed at himself. ‘I don’t get it, Luv. Are the windows UV blocking?’ he asked, in awe of the view.

She stared after him, astonished. ‘I…don’t know! Simon did say they brought you off the ship in the daylight.’ She’d blurted the sentence out before she could stop herself.

‘Ship?’ He questioned, whirling on her.

‘Spike, I don’t think…’ she stopped abruptly.

She could see she wasn’t going brush that statement away without answering him right now. Her mouth was open and she tried to find the words she needed for an answer but she couldn’t stop screaming ‘Stupid!’ at herself.

‘What ship?’ he demanded.

‘We need to get some clothes on.’ She said ignoring his question anyway. 

‘You won’t burn from the Ultra Violet Rays.’ River offered.

Buffy turned to leave but stopped and stared hard at River who was examining naked Spike.

‘Yeah? How so?’ Spike demanded.

‘Because they bend differently in Miranda’s atmosphere. Also, the sun is different here. You're going to find it’s like that wherever you go in this system, except for Kalidasa and probably Georgia.’

Spike looked at Buffy for an explanation he would understand.

‘She doesn’t know why.’ River said, shaking her head.

‘River, we really need for you to go now.’ Buffy said quickly. ‘See ya later.’

‘Alright!’ River yelled in a huff, spinning away. 'Everyone is always so irritable!'

Buffy didn’t wait for River to leave. She ran back upstairs. Spike followed talking to her back the whole way.

‘Who was that? You gonna tell me what’s bloody going on now, Pet? Whole sodden city smells like death and is empty as Jesus’ tomb, but for us, Giles next door and one girl. Who, I might as well mention, has seen all of me before we’ve been introduced proper like. Also, not to mention, all we talked about were ships and bloody UV rays that suddenly bend differently?’ He air-quoted. ‘And, just who in the bloody hell is Miranda?’

‘Well, I had a plan. A good plan, but now it’s all kablooey.’ She shrugged. ‘Just…put your clothes on. We're going to see Giles.’ She ordered hurriedly, pulling on a pair of stretchy athletic type pants and a t-shirt. She washed her face and brushed her teeth and was ready to go in minutes. 

While Spike dressed, she waited and paced nervously.

Thank God for vacuum sealing she thought as he appeared in their bedroom.

There was her Vampire. 

Black pants and t-shirt. Red button down. Boots. Black leather duster.

‘I’m gonna need some answers soon, Luv.’ 

She nodded and reached for his hand, ‘Giles will explain.’ She said, nervously.

‘Buffy, I don’t want Giles to explain. He tried to kill me a few months ago and I haven’t given him a pardon yet. I don’t scare that easily, Pet. I’m a big bad Vampire, remember? Now, tell me what’s got you so spooked.’ He said, gently squeezing her hand for reassurance.

‘I…it’s just, you will believe me if Giles is there to back me up.’ She stuttered. 

He glared at her puzzled.

‘Let’s just go see Giles if we need to. Okay?’ he tried realizing, ‘My girl is utterly terrified.’ 

She sat down on the bed and dropped her head into her hands. He kneeled down in front of her. She was starting to spook him. There wasn’t much that could rattle her. Maybe he needed to be a little less cavalier about…whatever this was. 

‘Hey,’ he said, placing his hands on her knees, ‘I don’t know if you’re afraid of me, or if you’re afraid of…well, I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but don’t be afraid of me.’ He coaxed.

She looked up at him with wide haunted eyes. Words frozen on her lips. How could he think she was afraid of him after…this morning and last night!

‘Right…’ he pulled his mouth in frustration. ‘Look…spill it, Summers.’

‘I’m trying.’ She choked.

Lifting a doubtful brow, he shrugged and waited. Pulling a breath, his chin jutted stubbornly. He was going to stay patient and wait for her. She was running through what she wanted to say to him, he could see her weighing the this or that’s.

He had stayed patient and now he was done. ‘Buffy…’

‘We aren’t on Earth.’ She blurted.

He blinked at her, ‘Say again…’ he stammered.

She didn’t, just waited for him to process.

He stood, went to the window, yanked the curtains open and stared out.

Turning back to her he gestured out the window as if to say,

‘What the hell is this then?’

She started talking then, saying it the same way it had been said to her.

As if he should just ‘understand’ what he was being told.

Three minutes later they were standing at Giles' front door.


	17. Seventeen

**Seventeen**

‘We're on a terraformed planet called Miranda, virtually alone. About Forty people live on the entire planet, not including…us, or all of us. It can sustain 300 million.’ She explained, voice shaking. 'We...well, as best as I can determine, we’ve been kidnapped. I…I don’t know because...I haven’t been able to really get past all the rest of it... You know, everything else.’ She finished in a near whisper, watching his rapid-fire expressions. They ran the gamut from confusion, to shock, to anger to shock again. He reacted the same as Giles, same as her.

‘What, everything else?’ he asked quietly.

They told him the rest of it.

Her Vampire only freaked out once. She wouldn’t reanimate Riley so he could kill him.

Arguing for hours, they were startled into silence by the knock at Giles’ door. It seemed a normal occurrence, for someone to knock at the door but everyone they knew was either frozen in a tube or sitting in this room.

‘Hello?’ Called the voice on the other side of the door after several moments.

Buffy looked at Giles and shrugged.

Spike huffed out a breath and was at the door before Buffy could stop him. He pulled it open to reveal Captain Reynolds on the other side. Inara was with him. Spike took one look at the Captain, vamped out, drew back a fist and punched him square in the mouth.

Mal fell backward into Inara and she gave a startled screech as they both tumbled to the floor in a tangle of fabric from Inara’s voluminous, elaborate dress. Buffy reached Spike and hauled him off of the Captain just before he was able to bite him. Captain Reynolds, vehemently screamed in Chinese, none of which Buffy understood, but she helped both of them to their feet.

Inara scolded the Captain over top of his screaming as she brushed herself off and straightened her clothes. ‘I told you to wait and let me, but you never listen!’ she accused.

Mal still wasn’t listening. He peppered Buffy with questions. ‘What the hell is that?’ He gestured furiously. Adrenaline forced him to repeat the question a few times.

Buffy moved to stand in front of Spike who was vamped out, but didn’t exactly look like himself.

It was complete pandemonium in the entryway of Giles’ apartment. Having had enough of it already, he put his fingers to his lips and gave a piercing whistle. Silence ensued directly after. ‘Yes. Well now, that’s better isn't it.’ He said calmly, pulling off his glasses and giving them a polish.

Whenever this happened, it was Buffy’s cue to take control of the situation. 

‘Spike…settle down.’ She commanded him sternly. ‘I know you were caught off guard and you didn’t mean to punch Captain Reynolds in the mouth.

'Who the bloody hell is Captain Reynolds?' he demanded.

Rolling her eyes, she informed him, 'Captain Reynolds is in charge here. We...'reside' here because of his generosity. So, can it.’ She finished in her 'I mean it' tone. ‘I forgot to mention our benefactor looks just like Caleb, because I was…well, I was distracted by you not being all...on fire and stuff. Otherwise I would've mentioned before now.’ She finished lamely. 

Spike’s demon was away by the time she got to the word benefactor. Doubling his effort not to have her angry with him, he relaxed his body, rolling his shoulders and shifting his weight into a less threatening stance. 

Satisfied he wasn’t going to attack the Captain again, Buffy turned to face Mal and Inara. Going to them she said, ‘I'm so sorry. I didn’t warn him yet and… it was an accident. I was distracted by an interesting development and completely forgot.’ She explained.

Ever eloquent, Mal lifted a finger, pointed at Spike and barked, ‘What the hell is wrong with his face!’ 

Inara deftly stepped past Mal and said, ‘What he means to say is, we're sorry for dropping in unannounced. We have some things we would like to talk with you about. May we come in?’

Buffy, looking for the answer, turned to Giles who was already coming to the door. 

‘Yes. Please, do come in.’ He invited, gesturing for them to enter the house. As the couple walked through the front door into Giles' spacious living area he asked, ‘Would anyone care for tea?’

Inara was delighted to be offered tea. It was her deeply held opinion you could learn a great deal about a person by the way they offered and prepared tea. 

‘That would be lovely, Mr. Giles. Please, allow me to help you.’ Inara said.

Giles, as usual, was tongue tied in the presence of Inara’s incredible beauty, but as was her way she soothed him and made him comfortable in his own kitchen again almost immediately. By the time the tea was done she knew Mr. Giles was loyal, cautious, driven, and broken. Depending upon whose side he elected to be on, that made him either an incredible asset or very dangerous. Inara had been in Mr. Giles' company before but was unable to observe him alone in a comfortable setting. She found she liked the man. He was educated, had impeccable manners, and loved Buffy like a father. He wasn’t keen on her relationship with the Vampire however, even though he was making every effort to accept it. 

‘Mr. Giles, you make a lovely cup of tea.’ She complimented him while arranging the tray. 

‘Yes. I mean, thank you. One does try one's best.’ He replied, stiffly, retrieving a box of English Style biscuits from the cupboard, and thought 'The Lord only knew where they came from.' Next, he produced a small plate, piled some of the treats onto it and giving Inara a tight smile, they returned to the others, Inara carrying the biscuits and Giles the tea tray.

Back in the living room Buffy had just given Spike a vicious kick to the ankle.

‘Ow!’ Spike protested and rubbed the smarting area vigorously.

Buffy shot him a serious side eye and gritted at him to ‘Behave!’

This was an awful way for Captain Reynolds to meet Spike and she was worried. She was counting on him making a good first impression in order to gain the Captains support for him. She knew she was going to have trouble with the others when it came to Spike and she wanted him to have every advantage. Spike had a chance at a fresh start if he could just get the support he needed. Too much opposition always made him uncooperative and confrontational. She didn’t want that for him here or for their relationship. She wanted easy and normal.

Spike, seeing the worry slide across her face, immediately set about putting her at ease.

He stood, turned to Mal and said, ‘Captain Reynolds, please allow me to voice great regret at my actions and accept my sincerest apology. I was startled by your appearance, but that isn’t an acceptable excuse for my ill manners. I hope I didn’t do any lasting damage. I feel a cad for having knocked you down and causing your lovely companion to be sent sprawling to the floor and humiliated as well. I shall endeavor to convince you of my good character from this moment forward. It is my deepest wish if you accept my apology, we may become friends.’ And then, he sketched the Captain an honest to goodness bow.

Giles halted in frozen astonishment, mouth hanging open. He recovered himself after a beat and put the tea tray down just as Spike turned to Inara, bent his knee, and kneeled in front of her.

‘Lady, please forgive my callous rudeness. I pray you are unhurt and I humbly beg your forgiveness.’ He bowed his head then and waited for Inara to respond.

‘Huh…’ Was all that a stunned Mal, could offer.

Inara, ever the lady, reached out taking Spike’s hand, lifting him from his kneeling position and said, ‘Think nothing of it. It was an accident and all is forgiven. Please, call me Inara.’ 

Spike stood and bowed deeply to her. He looked ridiculous playing the gentleman in his combat boots and black leather jacket, but he made a lasting impression on everyone with that apology.

Buffy was quite literally, beaming at him. 

‘Lady, your gracious nature humbles me. I thank you. My name is William, but everyone calls me Spike. You may call me either.’ He finished, taking the plate of cookies from her, escorting her to a chair. Once she was seated, he placed the biscuits on the tea table and took a seat next to Buffy who glowed like a happy beacon. Taking his hand in hers he gave it a significant squeeze. 

In the ensuing silence, a bewildered Giles, jerked himself into action, pouring the tea and the conversation began.

‘Buffy,’ Mal began, ‘I was concerned when River showed up today carrying me a tale that Spike here was all awake and she’d seen him nekkid as a cod fish in your kitchen earlier. After the last ten minutes or so I have the understanding of why you took it upon yourself to change the parameters of our agreement. What you should know now, is that River has been reprimanded for barging in on you.’ Mal waved a hand, indicating this was just a thing, and said, ‘She has a tendency to do this. It won’t be the last time. She struggles with personal boundaries and we can only apologize for it ahead of time and ask you not to get too rankled with her over it. Also, it might be a good idea to lock your door for a while.’ Then, he changed the subject. ‘The next thing you need to know is that when we have an agreement, I'm expecting you to stick to it. If you have a concern, all you need do is come to me and discuss it. If you take it upon yourself to change things up after an agreement without consulting me again, we're most likely going to have a problem and I don’t want that. Are we clear?’ Mal finished sternly.

No one spoke. 

Giles and Inara sipped their tea and waited to see what was going to happen.

Buffy could feel Spike tense with each word Captain Reynolds had spoken to her, but she had a death grip on his hand and was nearly crushing it in warning. Spike responded by schooling his face and body language into passiveness.

Taking a page out of 'William’s' book, she said, ‘Captain Reynolds, I… ‘appreciate’ you not being very angry with me and for your understanding, concerning my fears and misgivings. I know we had an agreement and that I've... ‘damaged’ your faith in me by breaking my word. I promise it won't happen again.’ She replied sincerely, taking time to choose her words carefully.

Mal nodded his acceptance. ‘It’s all water under the bridge now. Like I said, I understand it…now, just don’t go thinking I'm going to be so understanding again and we'll be square.’ He nodded at her and changed the subject again. ‘Now next item. We're curious about who you'll be wantin to reanimate next. We've been working overtime trying to get extra crops going to feed all of you. We just need to know how many you're looking to bring out so we can work on a schedule and be prepared.’

‘I'm glad you’ve asked.’ Buffy said.

‘Giles and I were talking about this the other day. He brought up a few things that I hadn't considered and we think it is best if we wake Angel up next. This will give us the extra time you need for crops as unlike Spike, he doesn’t eat food at all. Further, we'll need Angel when it is time to wake up Faith. They have a close relationship and things will be easier for her, if he's present.’ Buffy explained all of this while ignoring the glare Spike leveled at her after mentioning Angel’s name. She pulled her hand out of his and leaned forward to continue.

Spike grunted at her.

Angel, not needing human food isn’t the only reason I need to wake him up next. If I wake him up next, we have the benefit of privacy. There is going to be some, drama with him. Unfortunately, it's unavoidable as there is... ‘history’ and some unresolved issues. I'm hoping to spare us all from having it play out in front of everyone who loves us, as well as a bunch of strangers.’ She explained.

‘What kind of history?’ Mal questioned.

Buffy sighed, wishing she wasn't going to have to explain.

‘It wouldn’t be such a big deal if he weren’t such a bloody big poofter.’ Spike interjected.

‘So helpful.’ Buffy scolded Spike again, thinking, _‘So much for first impressions.’_

Chastised, Spike stayed silent if petulant.

‘Isn’t it obvious, Mal?’ Inara said with a significant glance.

‘No. It isn’t…or, I wouldn’t have asked.’ He clipped, his tone saying this should be obvious.

‘It’s alright, Inara. I can talk about it.’ Buffy assured her.

‘Angel and I used to be in a "relationship." She explained, air quoting the word relationship. ‘I was young and it was serious. He lost his soul due to the serious nature of our attachment.’ She said, blushing furiously, stumbling through her vocabulary before settling on the word attachment. Once she uttered the word, she wished she had chosen just about any other word for, sexually active. ‘I…suffice it to say that it ended badly and I had to kill him.’ She blurted, quickly.

Neither of them said anything. Her explanation hung in the air like a bad smell. 

Mal, disbelievingly looked to Inara for her thoughts, but she said nothing. Flicking his gaze to Buffy, she shrugged. Giles, nodded in the affirmative. Mal looked to Spike for confirmation last.

‘Stabbed him right in the guts, she did. Wish I could’ve seen it. Blood brilliant.’ He confirmed.

Buffy huffed a long-suffering sigh.

‘He wasn’t actually dead. I just thought I killed him. He was actually in a Hell dimension.’ She babbled. ‘The Powers gave him a reprieve and rescued him because of the prophecy and…well, Angel is Spike’s grand sire.’

‘You gonna tell them everything, Pet?’ Spike complained.

She ignored him, ‘There’s a lot of…well, let’s just say it’s all very sordid. I mean, I can go on, or you can tune in daily until we get some of it resolved. Also, there’s the added bonus of us being here partially, because as per usual, Angel went all Anakin on The Circle.’ She finished and glanced awkwardly at Spike who was grinning at her with great amusement. 

‘What?’ she mumbled. ‘I spent a lot of time around Andrew before becoming a Popsicle.’ She blushed, then grouched, ‘Shut up.’ 

‘Now who is being an embarrassment.’ He quipped at her, superiorly. 

Mal raised a hand stopping her litany and the interplay between them, because he didn’t want to have to try and suss out what the hell an Anakin was. Furthermore, he didn’t believe anyone came back from a ‘hell dimension,’ because the Hell she meant didn't exist. He knew that because he’d been to Hell. It was located at the floor of Serenity Valley.

‘Anyone stay dead where you’re from?’ Mal asked, genuinely curious.

‘Occasionally.’ Buffy offered frankly, ‘Mostly only if we get the spell right. I’ve been dead twice.’

Mal focused before he was able to get dragged down the rabbit hole, ‘That should be enough, unless I need to know about this proph… No, nevermind. We'll make sure and give you some privacy. Is this ‘Angel’ gonna want to punch me in the mouth the first time he sees me?’ Mal questioned.

‘Yes.’ All three of them answered in unison.

‘I see.’ he replied. He was getting a headache.

‘It’s for the best, Mal. You have to give them some time. If there are problems Buffy will come to you and ask for help. She wouldn’t knowingly endanger us. Isn’t that right, Buffy?’ Inara said confidently.

Buffy nodded her agreement, and said, ‘Absolutely.’ And she meant it.

Inara smiled supportive understanding at Buffy.

Mal sat silently considering.

Buffy, pushing ahead addressed the other question. ‘While it's true there is benefit to reanimating our people one by one, it isn’t practical. We need a way to get these people back into their lives as quickly as possible. So, we’ve decided we're going to bring our "crew" in two large groups to begin with. I'm not afraid to admit this thing is bigger than me. I'm completely daunted by the idea of all of these people and more than once I've thought we should just leave them there where they are. Safe, happy, and none the wiser.’ she confided.

After a beat Giles said, ‘I have something I'd like to discuss with you. As Buffy said, she has concerns regarding our numbers. She isn’t the only one who’s been concerned. As you've watched us, you've come to understand that adjusting to the ‘new reality’ is a lengthy, upsetting process for us and we're adult, 'people.' With that being said, as difficult as it's been for us, there are hundreds of teen age girls here with no one but strangers to help them adjust. We at least have each other.’ He said, gesturing between Buffy and himself. These children are five hundred years old, still going through puberty, and as well as being newly transitioned Slayers, they’re completely alone.’ He said compassionately.

Buffy sucked in a breath, ‘What…what do you mean they're alone, Giles?’

‘Well, I've been going down to the warehouse, finding out what I can about the individuals in those tubes. Zoe gave me the ship's log. All of the information we could possibly want about who these girls are, is in it. The records are meticulous. There are several family groups that make up astronauts and pilots, a few engineers, as well as the members of The Initiative, but for the most part, it’s just the girls and they're here alone. They're from all over the United States, Canada, and South America. They don’t even know each other, Buffy. I'm…’ Giles stopped speaking.

Buffy, furious, was on her feet pacing.

Spike watched her carefully. The Slayer was bloody dangerous when she was this angry. 

‘Are you telling me Riley has 'abducted' hundreds of teenage girls from their families. They don’t have any family at all with them?’ she asked, furiously. 

As many times, as she was in the warehouse over the last weeks, not once had she ventured out into rows and rows of tubes. Single minded with her visits, she sat with Dawn, or Willow. She went to tell Xander how sorry she was about Anya more times than she could count. The visits were for the soul purpose of saying everything she needed to say to them, so when they were reanimated, she could be there for them. It hadn’t occurred to her all of those people were strangers to each other. She thought back to those few moments after being transported through time. She hadn’t heard all of what Riley was saying before she slept for five hundred years, but she heard enough. She collapsed onto the sofa next to Spike nonplussed. There was an army of Slayers in that warehouse and they just become her responsibility. That is what he meant when he said he needed her.

Giles was talking, but all she heard was her own silent self, mentally screaming that she was going to kill Riley. She wished now she had let Spike have him. Giles spoke a bit louder to draw her in.

‘It’s my suggestion we reanimate a hundred souls a year. We do it by region, age, and interests. Eight girls a month after reanimating our people, adults, and family groups. We're going to need jobs and activities to keep them busy. It’s a massive undertaking. The youngest girl alone down there is ten.’ Giles said through barely leashed hostility.

‘Giles, if we only reanimate a hundred a year it will take a decade.’ Buffy reminded him.

‘Yes.’ He agreed, ‘But, it’s for the best. Considering we don’t know what long-term effects Miranda will have on any of us. Just today Spike didn’t burst into flames. We don’t know what the gravity of this planet will do to our bodies. We don’t know if the atmosphere will give us cancer. We just…don’t know. If things go well, if they change, we may be able to increase that number as we go along. For now, though Buffy…’ he trailed off.

Her mind was still reeling with the information Giles had just imparted.

‘You're right.’ She acknowledged. ‘It’s sound logic.’

‘I'm glad you think so, because I agree.’ Mal stated.

‘Me too.’ Spike said, just so he'd have something to say.

'Also, maybe you wanna explain why this, Riley, would abduct a bunch of girls.' Mal added.

‘They aren’t just a bunch of girls. He abducted an army of Slayers, Mate.’ Spike said.

Mal frowned at Spike in question.

‘They're like me. Probably, some are like River. We won’t know of course, until we wake them up and talk to Riley himself.’ Buffy elaborated.

‘There's an army of you all out there?’ Mal questioned, stunned.

‘Yes.’ Buffy confirmed.

Mal flicked a glance at Inara and at once became both relaxed and animated. He wanted to talk to Zoe...right now. ‘So, lots of plans to make.’ He said, slapping the flat of his palms on his legs and redirected the subject back to the schedule.

After a bit more conversation and hammering at it, Mal and Inara said goodnight. 

Soon after Buffy and Spike excused themselves. 

Giles cleaned up the tea and thought about the myriad of things that always occupied his thoughts. When he was done, he turned out the lights and went to bed alone.

As he lay there, he thought about Jody Mills before drifting off.


	18. Eighteen

**Eighteen**

**Persephone**

Badger sat alone in the small, dingy space he called an office on the south end of the Eavesdown Docks, peeling an apple after having taken a wave from Larry.

Larry was a putz.

Lucifer, oh wait… excuse him … Luc … he corrected himself, rolling his eyes mocking the name as he cranked the handle of the apple peeler. Badger had an affinity for apples his entire life. It was the symbolism and mystique surrounding the fruit that drew him. As well as the myriad of tastes, he supposed. There were so many varieties to choose from. Almost as many as people. Pulling the Granny Smith hybrid, his favorite, off of the peeler he took an inordinately large bite of the fruit, juice running down the stubble covering his chin.

Luc had summoned him a full month ahead of schedule. Twice a year, Badger had the privilege of hauling himself off to Ariel to ‘check-in’ and have a pound of his flesh removed.

'For good measure.' He was told. Being summoned early couldn’t be anything good.

Badger had come to hate his existence.

Once upon a time, he lived on Earth and had been happy. He had a job he loved, starting out as a lowly demon, eventually earning the title King of the Crossroads.

'Crowley.' he was called then.

Crowley banked more souls for Hell than anyone to ever earn the title 'King of the Crossroads.' With a bit more work and some luck, Crowley ended up becoming 'King of Hell.'

Crowley had the world by the bollocks back then. Now look at him. Living on this dirt blown rock in misery. He wished he could die.

Crowley saw to it that Luc was safely tucked away in the pit of Hell and became the greatest ruler Hell had ever seen. Even better than Luc.

'Those had been the Salad Days, when all was well in his soulless existence.'

Until the Winchesters came along and ruined everything.

He despised the Winchesters.

‘Now.’

The fact he ever worked with them, let alone considered them allies or friends, was disgusting to him. They brainwashed him with the idea he was part of their 'team' and like an idiot, he sacrificed himself with an Angel blade, sending Luc back to his cage in Hell and 'supposedly' sealing him there for all time.

‘Lies! All of it!’

The bloody Winchesters! Rowena tried to warn him.

They created that mess to begin with and what did he get out of it?

‘That’s right, nothing! Not even dead!’

Well, he got a little something that amounted to nothing in the end. The memory was so old it should have been entirely faded, but wasn’t.

The memory came unbidden like always. Dean’s eyes were the color of deep forest at twilight.

‘Damnit.’ Now that it started, it wouldn’t stop until the end.

The warm fullness of Dean’s mouth, pressed against him. The electric sensation, surging through his body as he leaned forward on impulse and kissed him lightly. Badger’s entire body responded to the memory of his tongue flicking out of his mouth and sliding into Dean’s. When the man didn’t shove him away, he held his breath, waiting. Shocking him, Dean stepped into the kiss pushing him up against the Impala. Their bodies pressed tightly together as Dean took control of the situation. The tall, solidly built, beauty had him melting into a puddle right there in the middle of a parking lot. Dean slid a hand between them and…

Badger shot to his feet, adjusting his erect pizzle through the grungy tweed of his trousers and threw the core of the apple into the trash. This wasn’t the memory he needed to reply. He needed to remember what came after! A whole lot of nothing! A whole lot of disappointment! A need and longing for something that could never happen again. A perfect moment that came to nothing except his voluntary death. He chose to die based on the ruin his life had become after that parking lot!

He had nothing. No job, no home, no Hell, no respect, and no Dean.

It was easy to make the decision. He sacrificed himself and was blissfully dead and unaware of anything, happily sleeping away in the eternal darkness of the Big Empty.

Until he wasn’t.

He woke to find himself naked, immortal, and powerless in a field at dawn. Not even a year had passed. His life, such as it was, had been literal Hell ever since. Badger had tried to kill himself a million ways since then, including walking into Rocket wash in hopes, something other than the Colt, an Angel blade or a Demon blade would do the job.

It didn’t.

He was charred to literal crispy flakes and it took him nearly twenty full years to recover. He recalled nothing of the time except the pain. In fact, it was beyond painful. It took another twenty to regain his mental faculties.

If he had to answer a summons from Satan a month early, he was going to enjoy himself before he left. No way to know if he would be leaving Ariel or what fresh new hell would be required of him. Pulling himself from the miasma the wave settled him into, he bellowed for Tiny. Leaving the giant man in charge until his return, he went home.

He kept a shithole apartment close to the office and used it for most everything, but it wasn’t home. It’s where he quickly went to change into something a little less noticeable then, hopped the monorail across town. Home, was a luxurious Penthouse that was hell and gone to the other side of town from the Eavesdown Docks. He kept it for the times when he needed to separate himself from the squalor and filth he lived in daily.

It was the only place he could go to be himself.

Fergus.

Not Badger and certainly not Crowley. One of those was an errand boy and the other was the former King of Hell. He was neither of those things when he was at home. At home, he was simply Fergus MacLeod.

The trip across town was quick for the time of day. Punching the combination into his door, he strode through the dim apartment into his immaculate bedroom, stripping off clothes as he went. He shit, showered, and shaved, then dressed himself in a sleek, black silk suit, cut in the style popular to Londinium. It cost more than the average sod made in a year and fit him like a second skin. Once dressed he sprayed on some ridiculously overpriced cologne that was popular and not too gauche. Afterward he got a mani/pedi, then dinner.

At precisely 14PM he walked through the door to the club. Fergus, was well groomed, impeccable dressed, had expensive taste and exquisite manners. These facts could buy him any company he wished, but he didn’t frequent establishment’s that took money at the door for entry. No, that wouldn’t do at all. This had the distinction of being a member’s only club.

Checking his coat, he surveyed the room as he sauntered to the bar. Recognizing a few faces, he nodded polite hello’s, but it was too early to seek out any company. Lucky though, there were plenty of men he had never seen before and the evening was early yet.

As he was alone, he opted for a seat at the bar. Sliding his member coin to the bar tender he ordered.

‘Bourbon neat.’ He said, politely.

The bourbon arrived and there was time to take a single sip, before he was joined by an older gent. The man was as impeccably groomed as Fergus, with salt and pepper hair. Unfortunately for the Gent, Fergus had a type.

This wasn’t it.

They talked amiably for several minutes. When showing the Gent no interest other than conversation, he thanked Fergus and took his leave. Sitting alone at the bar, he surveyed the room behind him through the mirror in front of him. After a while, he acknowledged the evening would be a bust and considered going slumming. Gaining the bar tenders attention, he thought to retrieve his member coin, but he walked in and Fergus’ breath caught. It was his only outward reaction to the god-like, gorgeousness.

At well over six feet, the broad-shouldered blond, set the room buzzing. The light dusting of freckles served only to enhance the square jawed, wholesomeness of the beauty survey the room.

Fergus, never one to gawk, knew how to get what he wanted and it didn’t involve waiting in line with all the other bees. Keeping his back to the room, drew him the attention he sought. Soon enough, Apollo turned blessedly green eyes, not the ‘right’ green, but green nonetheless, toward Fergus and smiled at him in the mirror.

It took an hour, but eventually Apollo made his way to Fergus, who made the most of the opportunity. They passed an eventful, if not a perfectly satisfying, evening together. Fergus was back at home before the sun came up. He showered, slept, packed, and was on an Alliance transport before lunch.


	19. Nineteen

### Nineteen 

Ariel

Badger was forced to sit and wait six hours for Luc. Used to playing the game, he idly fiddled with his Wave until summoned. As he wasn’t a moron, he knew how to move things along when he was ready, but that would only serve to speed the certain misery coming his way. Deciding he was well rested and in the correct frame of mind to manage what came next, he leaned his head against the wall and pretended to sleep. Larry, the putz, showed up the moment he began fake snoring and ushered him off to see the Lord and Master.

He did not roll his eyes at the pettiness of Larry the Putz, who fancied himself a villain. True, the man was a bore, but he wasn’t Luc’s personal lap dog without reason. Disrespecting him would be disastrous. If Larry thought Badger, amused, bored, or had any thoughts at all other than fear and how to serve the Master, this meeting would go badly for him.

Which was saying something.

Over time, Badger gleaned the manner in which to get through these meetings without losing anything other than a little blood. Blood, was blood. His body would make more. A soul was something he no longer had and as such was in no danger of losing. Anything else he had to lose wasn’t worth keeping. You couldn’t really lose something if you accepted it was already gone. What he couldn’t do was something he had done to himself with rocket wash. Endure prolonged pain, accompanied by imprisonment. If Larry the Putz were to glean that bit of information, Badger might have to kill him. So, he bowed and scraped, thanked the putz for showing him the error of his ways and went back to work.

‘If you don’t play, you can’t lose.’ He breathed calmly. 'Take your beating, show remorse, in and out. Let it go. Like water from a duck’s back.'

Sure, it was awful while it was happening, but it ended. He simply didn’t carry it with him afterward. Checked it off as you would a list of completed items and tossed it away. In some ways it was penance. You can’t be the King of Hell and expect to walk away from that scot-free.

Larry said nothing as they ambled toward Luc’s ‘office.’ Badger supposed the putz thought the silent atmosphere cryptic. Maybe the putz thought Badger below his conversation. Either way, one night when the man was old and alone, Badger would slip in for the fun of it and have his way with him. Time was on his side and time was the great equalizer. 'Wasn’t it?'

Reaching the office, Larry opened the door and stepped inside, leaving him in the hall.

‘Mr. Badger here to see you Lord.’

Larry imparted the information as if Badger had just popped by for a quick visit.

‘Wonderful!’ Luc boomed.

Larry stepped aside and motioned for Badger to enter.

‘Hey! Hey there!’ Luc called to him jovially.

Larry stepped out, closing the door behind him silently.

Badger gave Luc a small disingenuous, but convincing, smile. ‘Lord.’ He bowed in greeting.

‘I’m glad you were able to get here so quickly! Sit…sit down! How are things on Persephone?’

The Arch-Angel’s smile was over bright and creepy. Badger didn’t sit. Luc wanted something from him. Fear rolled through his gut and he almost shivered with it. It was just as he suspected, something, nothing good, was afoot and…

‘Bollocks!’ He waited too long to answer. Hoping to cover, he answered, ‘Well, Lord. Thank you for asking.’ Offering nothing more. He was distracted and blowing it. ‘Shit…’

Luc, pulled an inquisitive frown and waited for Badger to elaborate.

Collecting himself, though it still took several beats too long, he finally began talking. The Eavesdown Docks were the backwater of the whole of Persephone, but he was able to relate several of the more salacious scandals to have taken place. Eavesdown being a backwater, was precisely the reason Luc installed him there. If anything nefarious was happening on Persephone, it was happening at Eavesdown. As the former King of the Cross Roads, Badger, or rather Crowley, would take notice of it. Not tasked with interfering, his job was simply to observe and report. Therefore, he didn’t embellish, or offer opinion. Unless, of course he was asked for one. He never was. 

‘…and business?’ Luc interrupted, when tiring of the gossip.

‘The Alliance is ever vigilant Lord, but are never completely successful at eliminating the criminal element in its entirety.’ He answered, honestly without answering.

It wasn’t a secret between them the Alliance was Luc’s creation.

‘How about Malcolm Reynolds, have you seen him lately?’

Luc had finally come to the reason for this meeting.

Like an idiot, he hesitated again before answering. What was with him today?

‘No, Lord.’ He answered, cursing himself.

‘Mmmm,’ Luc replied.

Badger schooled his face to impassiveness not daring to examine the puzzling question.

‘I want you to find Reynolds for me.’ Luc instructed.

‘Yes, Lord.’ He replied, bowing low to cover his mental screaming and utter bewilderment. Swearing inwardly he held the bow, ‘Gorram it! Find Mal Reynolds. Why didn’t he just ask him to find the door to the next Universe. It would be easier. Bleeding Christ!’ He didn’t rise until Luc began speaking again.

‘See, that’s what I like about you Badger, you just, ‘understand’ what I want, then agree to deliver. Point of order though, I don’t want you to do anything, except find Reynolds. When you do, tell me where he is and I will take it from there. Capiche?’

Answering was redundant, he simply dipped his head.

‘See Larry before you go. He’ll have everything you might need, to assist. I expect to hear from you soon.’ Luke said, flicking his fingers at Badger urging him to go.

Badger, resigned, bowed deeply again and left the room.

Nonplussed at being sent packing so abruptly without having even been flogged, he went in search of Larry the Putz. He wasn’t sure whether to feel gypped or what.

‘Luc must really want Reynolds.’ He thought, walking through the door.

The moment he rounded the corner, he was set upon by giants.

‘Ahhh, there we are. The Universe wasn’t off its axis after all.’ He quipped, silently.

They beat the literal piss out of him for the next hour. When finished, they dumped him into the street to make his painful was back to the hotel. It took two days for him to heal up enough so he didn’t wish to die each time he went to the bathroom. Two days after that, he boarded an Alliance transport for Persephone and home, in lieu of Eavesdown.

Larry hadn’t imparted funds, connections, or resources, merely a serious kicking of his arse. An indication Badger would be footing the entire bill for this goose chase. Mal Reynolds hadn’t shown his face on Persephone, in six, maybe seven years. The worst of it, would be the mountain of unreliable leads coming his way after dropping feelers all over the bloody Cortex. He would undoubted be saddled with checking them out himself. Everyone and their half-sister was looking for Reynolds since that big dust up with the Alliance. The pool was a fetid, stinking mess and he doubted the man was even alive.

None of that mattered.

One way or another, it was now his job to find the thief, or produce proof of his death.

‘Bollocks…’ he complained.


	20. Twenty

**Twenty**

**Miranda**

The last thing Zoe Washburne expected for her life, was to fall in love with a smart-assed, brilliant, exasperating, over-achieving, nerd, pilot. Getting 'knocked up' by him, definitely ‘not’ on the list. Having him die and leave her, unexpected as well. As vessel born, career Independent Military, what she expected was to live and die as a Grunt in the battle for Independence. Instead, she fell under the command of Captain Malcolm Reynolds and because of him, lived through Serenity Valley. By the Captains side ever since, she learned the actual definition of loyalty and met the love of her life during a job interview. An interview in which he arrived wearing a ‘Hawaiian’ shirt, full of bravado and sporting a ridiculous mustache. Against her advice, the Captain hired him as Serenity’s pilot.

Since marrying Wash, her life was different in every way except one.

Whatever the Captain asked of her, she did it. No questions. He’s the Captain.

The last order she received, was to keep an eye on the newcomers. She did this job to the letter. Even now, she prepared to dump all of them on Ariel or even Persephone as soon as the Captain made his peace with it. The Captains decision not to off load those folks first chance he got, surprised the hell out of her. Then he went and made them family. From the beginning, she was convinced she never should have brought them here. Over the last months she spent a chunk of time thinking on it. She had to allow that while he was human and sometimes made mistakes, but she spent too much time with Malcolm Reynolds in her life not to trust his intuition.

Even so, everything in their lives was different now.

‘There was Hobie now. The Captain had Inara now. Simon and Kaylee…’

For the first time since Serenity Valley, she was questioning her orders. Don’t misunderstand, she trusted the Captain to get her through tough times and dangerous situations, but those were few and far between of recent. This situation with the newcomers was a thing she wasn’t settled on and because of that, she was having difficulty finding peace. Jayne sat next to her while the Captain delivered new revelations concerning their neighbors.

The longer he talked, the more skeptical she became. ‘Vampires are movie characters.’ She thought, bemoaning this idiocy.

Even Jayne was skeptical and he was notoriously gullible.

She didn’t know how to approach the subject of her concerns with the Captain. It went against her nature to question him because she trusted him, but she was going to have to. What he was describing couldn’t be possible, but he swore that what was in all those tubes was true. Swore it. 

‘I can see you ain’t buying it.’ Mal said, speaking to the both of them, ‘but I’m telling you it’s too true. We have an army of…of, Super Girls.’ He said, trying desperately to describe them.

Zoe couldn’t take it anymore. ‘Sir…please, you can’t believe this.’ She said, softly.

‘All I'm saying, is that…well, I don’t know what I'm saying…yet.’ Mal allowed.

‘All you're saying Mal, is that we have an army of Super Girls.’ Jayne said, mockingly.

Mal pointed at Jayne as if he were a genius. ‘Exactly!’ Mal exclaimed.

‘What are we going to do about it?’ Zoe asked, setting aside her own concerns to gauge his.

‘I don’t know yet...’ He said, ‘but it's going to be fun to find out!’

Wishing again she had left that damn ship where she’d found it, she stood. ‘Need to get home.’

Jayne followed, ‘Yeah, me too.’

‘Don’t worry. Either of you. It’s gonna be fine.’ Mal assured them.

‘Night, Inara.’ Zoe called.

Inara was in an easy chair reading, her head bobbed up, ‘Night…’ she smiled, wiggling her fingers.

Jayne wiggled his comically back at her and she rolled her eyes, chuckling.

Outside, Jayne said, ‘Don’t fret it, Zoe. It’s a bunch of orphaned little girls. What could go wrong?’

‘Goodnight, Jayne.’ Zoe said flatly, her irritation with him plain.

‘Aw, come on. Don’t be like that. Doc wont zap em all awake at once.’ He called to her retreating form, ‘Besides, if those Vamps eat anybody, we will just cut their heads off and be done with it.’

When Zoe didn’t answer, he shrugged and peeled off to head home, but stuttered to a halt. River stood in the shadow of a building watching him. She cocked her head to the side, considering him then glanced up the street to see Zoe round the corner. Jayne followed her gaze, then looked back to her.

‘You okay?’ he asked, warily.

River stepped away from the building and came to stand with him.

‘Bored.’ She answered, blinking up at him.

‘Well…I was gonna clean, Vera. You can help if you want.’ He offered.

River nodded and turned into step beside him. As they walked, she slipped her hand inside his.

‘Hey!’ he exclaimed, snatching his hand away, ‘Cut that out!’

River complied, keeping her hands to herself and followed.

Two blocks south, Zoe’s thoughts wandered while she tried to suss out what was really bothering her lately. Uncertain if it was her or the newcomers. It could be, she was just ‘out of practice.’ Reavers had murdered her husband. After that, putting one foot in front of the other was her only concern. Hobie was two years old before she walked out of the fog she lived in and only then, because Hobie ended up in the middle of something that could have gotten him killed. 

Having Wash snatched away from her, quick and dirty, almost killed her.

So, she understood what the Captain was going through. Even though Inara was going to fade away slowly, he would lose her. She didn’t know if the Captain could endure watching it, if his reaction the day she told him she was sick and would eventually die was an indication. 

‘This has to have him distracted.’ She analyzed.

Doc of course, being who he is got to work moments after she told the rest of the crew. 

It was a fact that no one, not even the Doc, could save her from her fate. It didn’t stop him from trying. Several weeks later, he surprised everyone with a medication regiment that would improve the quality of her life, while he continued to work on the cure to save it. The medication would ensure a fullness to her days right up until the last weeks. The Doc was a miracle worker that way.

Even now it was hard to remember Inara was sick because of the magic he worked with her.

The Doc was the one to tell Zoe she was pregnant.

He told her before they went in to remove Wash from Serenity, explaining it was routine procedure before administering antibiotics and pain meds, for her back wound. Still in shock over Wash, she barely registered his presence, let alone hear anything he might have said. Weeks later while welding panels onto Serenity, she threw up. Shaking from hunger and lack of sleep, staring at a puddle of puke, she furiously acknowledged her ‘condition.’

Keeping the news to herself she worked on getting Serenity in the air. Thankfully, they were in the air living what was gingerly considered a normal existence when she couldn’t hide the ever-expanding bump in her middle any longer. Revealing to the crew that she was going to have Wash’s baby, was at once joyous and bitter sweet. They had a good cry and then got on with it, the pregnancy helping her and entire crew through those horrible months. Kaylee, helping them all to focus on the joy of a new family member. Mal constantly asking what she would name Wash’s triplet daughters, poking fun at her over how fat she had become. Simon reassuring her every time that it was only Hobie in there. Through all of it, she was present, but absent. When Hobie came her grief, ever present, was overshadowed by the joy of a new life on Serenity. He blessed them all with the one thing they were in desperate need of, ‘hope’ and with it he healed Serenity’s wound.

River and Mal took over piloting duties once Serenity was space worthy again. River had real aptitude for handling Serenity. She wasn’t Wash, but she was Gorram close. Years earlier, Wash taught Zoe how to pilot Serenity in case of an Emergency and she filled in on an ‘as needed’ basis.

Since Mal had essentially landlocked them, she would be eternally grateful for the gift of freedom Wash had bestowed on her in the basic ability to navigate and fly. She understood Mal didn’t like to leave Inara, but she was never one to be land locked.

‘…and with that, you have at least a small understanding of what’s chaffing.’ She said, out loud.

Then walked through the front door of her home.


	21. Twenty-one

**Twenty-One**

Buffy spent the last month having loads of sex. When she wasn’t having sex, she was helping Giles in the Cryo warehouse, going on supply runs with Kaylee, and looking for just the right ‘things’ to help make the ‘new reality’ a little more palatable for the people who were about to have their lives turned upside down.

During this time, the first argument she and Spike had was about Angel.

‘No big surprise.’ She thought, matter of factly.

In hind sight, she understood why Spike wigged out.

Presently, she was blow drying her hair. After spending most of the day putting the finishing touches on Angel’s apartment, she needed a shower. In a little less than an hour, she was headed to the Lab. Once there, Simon would reanimate Angel and then she would bring him home to the basement apartment she worked so hard on and ultimately causes the huge fight between her and Spike.

So, okay, maybe she might have focused on getting Angel ‘the right place,’ a little too hard. Or, maybe she was just transferring her stress and fears onto ‘work.’ Either way, she had a heck of a stand off with Spike and might still be at it with him if Inara hadn’t ‘helped’ her to see his point of view.

‘It’s possible,’ Inara offered carefully, ‘that Spike could be feeling vulnerable because of how ‘special’ or ‘loved’ he felt with the work and preparation you did for his reanimation. Watching you go through the motions for, ‘someone else,’ may have ‘tarnished’ those feelings a bit?’

Inara was a genius. 

The inevitable blow up happened while folding clothes she selected, washed and dried for Angel.

Lost in her thoughts, regardless of if it was innocent, well meaning chatter, it was the last straw.

‘I suppose it’s good that Connor is here. It means Angel will have someone.’

This, after weeks of dealing with her feelings concerning Connor and Spike witness to all of it. If Willow were available, she might not have talked Spike’s face off as to the ‘why’s and how’s’ of Connor, but in those two sentences, Spike had enough. In a fit of jealousy, he grabbed the neatly folded laundry and flung it across the room.

‘UGH!’ she complained. ‘Why did y…’

‘Why don’t you just move him in with us?’ he demanded at a roar!

To stunned to answer, she blinked up at him.

‘I’m tired of listening to ‘my girl’ go on ‘bout bloody, stupid, Forehead and his kid every day!’

‘What is ‘wrong’ with you?’ she yelled!

‘You are!’ he answered and stomped out of Angel’s apartment.

That was code for ‘I’m jealous!’

Cleaning up the mess, she refolding the clothes and put them away. All the while her anger simmered. Finishing up, she went home to get ready for Community Dinner. After she was showered and ready, she made the mistake of asking why he wasn’t getting ready too.

‘No body needs me around when Angel will be here soon! Take him and his kid to bloody dinner and leave me out of it!’ he yelled.

Needless to say, they had it out and she went to dinner alone.

That’s when Inara offered up he pearls of wisdom.

On the way home, she got honest with herself, about herself, and her relationships.

Buffy loved Angel. Was ‘in love’ with him.

What that love meant for her life, was exactly nothing.

It stopped meaning anything when Spike walked into Time Displacement Room.

She should probably tell him.

That conversation went about as well as could be expected.

Leading with, ‘Spike, you have to learn I’m capable of loving you and Angel at the same time.’ Probably not the best way to start. However, by the end of the seven-hour ‘feeling fest.’ Apologies and declarations were made. Understandings of each other’s ‘issues’ were mapped and catalogued. Agreements were made concerning freedoms and restrictions. As well as promises, vows, and reassurances. They were exhausted.

Loving someone isn’t enough. She and Angel, would have broken themselves on each other trying to make something out of that love. Angel did the right thing for both them the day he left Sunnydale. Not a question. Not speculation. A fact. Even so, she wouldn’t be squashing the part of her loved him. Secreting it away, pretending she didn’t care about him, to cater to Spike’s jealousy. Lying about it, wouldn’t make it go away.

‘Spike, what part of “It’s always been you” do you not understand?’ she demanded. ‘Do you really not understand what I’m saying to you?’

He ranted, she waited while he ranted, then went on to explain what it meant to her.

‘I can love you, Dawn, Giles, Xander, and Angel all at the same time! I can love him, without comparing you too each other! The way I love you has absolutely nothing to do with how I love him! Don’t you see that? When I say it’s always been you, it’s because it’s ‘always’ been you, you dolt!’ She insisted.

Mouth pressed into a hard line, he resisted hearing her.

‘You were there with me, always.’ She said, crawling over the sofa to him. ‘You stayed and you stayed. Even when I was dead, you stayed, Spike! I see you…’ She pressed a kiss to his mouth.

He allowed it.

‘So, okay, I’m an idiot, but I see you. Please take what I am offering you, because it’s real and it’s yours. If you have to weigh it against his do it in private. I’m asking you not to though. I’m asking you to take it and let go of everything else. Be with me, because I don’t want to live without you and I ‘can’t’ live worrying about every interaction with him.’ She finished winding her arms around him and curling into his lap.

Spike watched his Slayer dry her hair, thinking about the last time they ‘talked’ about Angel.

Silently he considered what she had been getting at that night. Maybe he put his past experience with Angel on her. Maybe he put his past with her, on her. ‘Deserved.’ ‘Maybe you’re freaking out still, because bloody being in love with her is like being dragged forevermore over a cheese grater. Yeah?’ He had to trust her? Forgive her? He had to trust Angel? He had to bloody ‘grow’ as a person. He hadn’t answered her that night, but either way the argument was over.

It took her explaining to him over time and in detail certain aspects of her mental state. Which, he should have picked up on. However, dealing with her ‘feelings’ for the poofter, was another thing. ‘Yeah?’ After he stopped trying to fuck her into the Ear…ugh, ‘Miranda?’ to force the bloody poof from her mind and started paying attention, he could see it wasn’t just Forehead or him she was doing all ‘this’ for. It was everyone.

After he paid attention, he understood why.

When she wasn’t under him, screaming out her pleasure, she was a ball of worry. Day and night, she never stopped. He examined his own behavior as well, understanding himself eventually. Days of listening to her and Giles talk things to death, hadn’t clued him in to the fact she didn’t have this situation under control. She was drowning and he wasn’t helping. There was nothing she could do to lessen the shock or ease the pain for those still in tubes. The only home he ever truly had, was his mother’s and the one Buffy made for him. His girl was making this ‘cluster’ as right as she could. So, he stopped behaving like a bloody imbecile and starting helping her. Perversely, because he was who he was, he settled the ‘Angel’ situation to his satisfaction by shagging her on the Poof’s living room floor.

After that, he worked it out for himself as they went. So far, he shagged her on nearly every surface he fancied between Serenity Township and the penthouse. Park benches, the lift, warehouse, middle of the night, broad daylight, it didn’t matter. In this way, he worked out his issues and he felt much more in control of his emotions.

For instance, in a few seconds she was going to try and maneuver him into letting her go alone to reanimate the Poof. He wasn’t going to get angry and he was going with her. End of discussion.

‘What time is Simon expecting us?’ he asked, setting up the net.

Simon had been in the process of the Poof’s reanimation all day. It was anytime in the next hour.

‘I’m going over soon.’ She answered.

Spike wasn’t deaf, he heard her correctly, but he would play the game. Lounging on the bed, he propped his hands behind his head and asked lightly, ‘Do you want dinner before we head over?’

‘Spike…you're not going.’ She insisted, coming into their closet, hands on her hips. 

‘I’d like to know how you think you'll stop me.’ He quipped, genially.

‘Spike…’ she began, but he cut her off.

‘Buffy, you’re my girl. You said so yourself. I’m not putting up with ‘Angel breath’ just so you can say ‘hello.’ I’m going. End of discussion.’ Getting off the bed, he walked out the closet, brushing past her. 

‘Fine, but if you make a mess I’m telling!’ She complained, but she was smiling.

‘What? Damage my brand new, lily white reputation?' He shot sarcastically, pulling on his coat.

Following him out of the penthouse, she grinned at his back. As if reading his mind, she was ready for it when he had her against the wall in the elevator, kissing the breath out of her before the door could close. That quietly assertive leaf he turned over was sexy as hell.

***

Pulling up to the Lab, she murmured into his ear, ‘What’s all this?’

Mal, Zoe, River, and Jayne were outside, waiting for them. 

Last week she had relinquished control of her keys, letting Spike drive. He hadn’t given them back and now drove everywhere. Parking Poseidon, he slid off, then helped her. Divesting themselves of their helmets, Spike pocketed the keys and they joined the group. Belatedly, she realized she hadn’t seen Zoe or Jayne since introducing them to Spike. Spike tensed at the assemblage in front of the lab, but she slid her hand into his, giving it a squeeze. Plastering a smile on her face she greeted them as if nothing were wrong. They weren’t supposed to be there.

‘Hi. How are you all tonight?’ 

‘Good to see you again, Captain.’ Spike said, then shook hands all around, ‘Evening, Crew. What can we do for you?’ he asked genially, getting to the point.

‘Well, we didn’t know if you were concerned about trouble tonight. We wanted to come and let you know we’re here if you need us. We'll keep our distance. Be secure in that. All you have to do is yell though and we'll come running.’ Mal explained, helpfully.

‘Captain, I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but I'm sure there won’t be any problems. However, what you might consider a problem isn’t necessarily what we consider a problem. Please stay back unless Spike or myself asks you specifically to intervene. Angel is a 'souled' Vampire, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be dangerous if he feels threatened or provoked. Remember he is going to be disoriented, possibly ravenous. He doesn’t handle his hunger as well as Spike. It may take him a minute, but he’ll gain control. If he doesn’t, Spike and I will control him.’ She directed.

‘As you say.’ Mal nodded in, nonthreatening deferment.

With that Buffy and Spike went inside. Mal and his people followed, taking up residence in a waiting area down the hall while Buffy and Spike went into the lab.

Angel's tube was in the Lab, obviously, and Dr. Tam checked readings on the tube’s computer. Smiling a warm hello as they entered, he said, ‘He looks great. I'm certain that medically he’s going to be fine. I heard you come in so I've already started the sequence and will be leaving shortly. If he's anything like Spike, it isn’t going to take long for him to wake up.’ Simon said.

‘He’s nothin like me, Doc.’ Spike quipped sarcastically.

Simon smiled nervously and didn’t respond.

Handing Buffy a timer, he said, ‘Roughly five minutes give or take. Good luck.’

He left the room locking the door behind him. Buffy turned around to give Spike his orders and he grabbed her up and planted a very passionate kiss on her lips. She whacked him on the shoulder and dragged her mouth away from his.

‘Knock it off. No antagonizing! You were able to wake up in relative peace. I know you can’t help yourself, but please, for me, don’t turn this into a shit show.’ She requested.

‘Language!’ he teased.

‘I mean it.’ She responded.

His eyes glittered, teasingly, but he relented.

‘No worries, Luv. On my best behavior. How ‘bout you breathe. Relax.’ He coaxed.

Nodding, she pecked a kiss of thanks, the twisted around to see Angel staring at her.

‘Where's Connor?’ He croaked, voice muffled.

Going to the tube she popped the tube open and smiled down at him.

‘Good evening, Sleepy head.’ She teased.

‘Connor?’ he asked again.

‘He's asleep. I'll take you to him soon.’ Buffy replied, vaguely.

‘Where am I?’ he asked.

‘You are in Dr. Simon Tam’s lab. Let’s get you up out of there. I can fill you in as soon as we going you some blood and clothes.’ She explained, managing him.

Angel looked down at his nakedness. Confused, he asked, ‘How…?’

Spike arrived with a warm mug of blood. Handing it over he considered lying to the Poof, telling him he was arrested for stealing appliances or some such tripe, but she wouldn’t like it.

Angel took one look at him then asked his girl, ‘What’s he doing here?’

Spike, changing his mind opened his mouth, but she cut him off.

‘He’s bringing you blood and helping me. You aren’t exactly lite.’ She said, pointedly.

Angel took the mug, sipped it, jerked his eyes to Buffy's, and shoved it back at her. 'This is human.'

'Yes. It's all we have. I'm sorry. You're just going to have to deal with it for now.' she replied.

Angel examined the mug, then downed the contents in two swallows. When he was done, he wiped his hand across the back of his mouth and handed the mug back to Spike who graciously went for more. 

This wasn’t Buffy’s blood. Spike had drawn the line at giving Angel her blood. To keep the peace, Giles donated his blood. Returning with the mug he gave it to Angel who drank the contents like a 'normal' Vampire this time. Buffy patiently answered his questions one at a time, answering them again moments later.

‘Food. Shower. Clothes. Then, Connor. In that order.’ She insisted.

He complied.

Spike stayed quiet, for once in his life valuing the calm. 

An hour later, Buffy’s list was accomplished.

Buffy, Spike and Simon were discussing Angel's strangely calm reaction to reanimation when he reappeared in the lab freshly showered. Spike and Buffy both were combative while Giles was merely disoriented. Angel was listless and caught by surprise at Simon's presence. He should've known someone else was in the room before he entered it.

Jolting to a stop, Angel dropped the towel from his hair. Eyes quickly assessing, he casually flipped the towel over his shoulder, waiting for someone to tell him who the new guy was. Instead of an introduction, all eyes were on his hair. Self-consciously he smoothed it, realizing it stuck out every which way. His disquiet stirred Buffy to action.

Standing, she went to him, ‘Angel, this is Dr. Tam. He’s been…taking care of you and wants to ask you some questions.’

‘First of all, where am I?’ Angel asked again.

‘You're at the lab.’ She answered again. Maneuvering him into a chair, she asked, ‘Angel, what was the last thing you remember?’

‘You mean after you and Spike made a spectacle of yourselves?’ He answered harshly.

‘Yes.’ She answered, refusing to argue with him.

Capitulating he said, ‘The last thing I remember is watching Connor fall to the ground. There was some kind of… I don’t know, blue light stick, sort of like a wand or a staff kind of thing, then someone tazed me.’

‘Thank you. Okay. I have a lot to tell you, but first you have to meet some people. They've been waiting a while so I'm going to bring them in. Listen, I know that he looks exactly like him, but Captain Reynolds is not Caleb.’ She said smiling.

‘What?’ Angel asked, confused.

‘The bloke is a dead ringer for the preacher, but it ain’t him.’ Spike cut in.

Angel blinked, ‘Huh?’

‘All you need to know, Nancy, is don’t hit him, he’s bloody tired of it.’ Spike added. 

‘Fine. I won’t hit him.’ Angel assured them.

Moments later Mal came through the labs sliding glass door. Angel took one look at him and went on alert. Standing slowly, he pointed and demanded of Buffy ‘What the hell’s this?’ 

‘It’s just like I said, this is Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Generally, he just goes by Captain, but his friends call him Mal. I need you to sit down, Angel. There's a lot to tell you and you're not going to like or believe any of it.’ She explained frankly.

Angel complied, sinking into his chair. Still wary, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw down, but it looked like he wasn’t going to have to. Not yet, at any rate.

‘Okay, I'm sitting, explain…’ he commanded.

‘Riley…’ she began, only to be interrupted.

‘I don’t like him, Buffy. As a matter of fact, I'm liable to tear his head off when I see him.'

'Get in line, Mate.' Spike interjected.

Angel ignored Spike, talking over him, 'He dragged Connor into the middle of a demon horde, then dragged us out to the middle of the desert. After we got there, he knocked my son unconscious, you…everyone really. He used those wand things and then the ass hat tazed me. I need you to know right now, he's in for it and I don’t want to hear anything about it. I'm justified on his reckless disregard for my son alone.’ Angel growled indignantly. ‘It’s not open for discussion.’

‘Okay. Yes, Angel. Let’s talk about your son, who you failed to mention at any time over the last couple of years.’ She said pointedly. 

Spike crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back against the counter and smirked at Angel. Everything about his expression screamed, 'Now ‘you're’ in for, Mate.' He was sublimely pleased. Near giddy with anticipation because Angel was about to be on the receiving end of a good tongue lashing and it definitely wasn’t going to be the pleasant kind.

‘Ugh…’ Angel fumbled, sufficiently chastised.

‘Are you done blustering now? Can we focus?’ She complained.

‘UGH! No fair!’ Spike protested.

They ignored him.

‘I would've told you about him, but…’ Angel stammered.

‘Save it. This is going to be a long night. You need to listen.’ she commanded, sitting. ‘This is an unbelievable story. I've told it two times and neither was easy. First to Giles and then to Spike. As we go forward, you'll understand the significance of that.’ She sucked in a deep, cleansing breath and blew it back out.

Spike, visibly disappointed that verbal battle between the two hadn’t ensued, grimaced and went to sit with Buffy. He sat as close to her as he could and rested his arm familiarly across the back of the sofa. Buffy shot him a quelling glance and he reluctantly pulled his arm from behind her placing it on her knee instead. She rolled her eyes, prayed for strength, then ignored him completely.

Simon invited River, Zoe, and Jayne into the room and introduced everyone.

The muscle in Angel's jaw ticked, but he said a polite, ‘Hello.’

Buffy began the story and the others jumped in when it was their turn.

River was fascinated. There was so much emotion flowing between the three newcomers, she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Drifting away from her group, she sank down on the other end of the sofa hurriedly glancing between the three of them as not to miss anything.

Buffy paused curiously to see if River had anything to add. When she didn’t speak up, Jayne spoke for her. Gesturing casually, he said, ‘Heh, don’t mind River, none. She’s just curious about y’all. No harm no foul. Go on there, Buffy I'm getting tired of standing around here already.’ He gruffed, realizing he was the center of attention.

‘Thank you…Jayne.’ Buffed stumbled. It was the most she heard the big man speak. Usually he just grunted. She knew one thing for certain, she never wanted to get in a fight with him even if he was only human. She knew he was deadly simply from the way he moved. Turning back to a bemused Angel, she went on, ‘Okay, just try to hear me out. I'm not putting you on, telling tall tales, or any of that. You're not being punk’d. Okay?’

Angel didn’t respond, just waited patiently for her to say something that explained...this.

‘So, okay. Fine. You don’t believe us and that’s okay. So, here it is. We've been duped. Ugh, double crossed, even. Riley has basically kidnapped us…’ she explained, furiously. She was sick of telling this story.

‘Buffy, where are we? I’m not stupid. Riley is military. I have Vampire hearing. There isn’t anyone out there.’ He gestured toward the door. ‘Not many, anyone’s, anyway. Are we in prison? Underground? What?’

‘No, we’re not any of those places.’ She assured him, then blurted, ‘In fact, we’re not on…Earth.’

‘What is that, some kind of metaphor?’ he snorted, contemptuously.

‘No, that is some kind of, what I just said.’ She retorted.

Angel blinked at her and waited for clarification, noting that River watched him intently.

‘Who are these people?’ he asked, changing the subject.

‘I’m glad you asked. I told you their names. Do you need them again?’ She asked.

He shook his head no.

She nodded, ‘Captain Reynolds is the authority of this ‘settlement.’ We're on a planet called Miranda in the Burnham quadrant of the Union of Allied Planets...’

The explanation trailed off as Angel stood, taking long strides on his way out of the lab.

‘Angel, wait.’ Buffy called.

Mal stepped in front of Angel, put his hands up and said, ‘You need to stop. The lady...’

Angel punched Mal in the face and continued for the door.

Mal, stumbled from the force of the blow.

Angel didn’t intend to hurt him, just move him.

Plowing into both Zoe and Jayne who stood on either flank, Zoe caught Mal up and set him back on his feet. Jayne lunged for huge Vampire and was knocked several feet away with a straight arm to his chest. Buffy yelled all the while for them to ‘let him go.’

Spike and River cleared the sofa simultaneously, running for the door when it was clear he wasn’t going to be deterred. Once clear of the humans, Angel used his Vampire speed and disappeared in a blink. Only Spike was able to keep up and he didn’t have far to go.

Angel was just outside the entrance to the building, awe struck, staring into the night sky. Spike, took up the position next to him and joined him in his star gazing. Angel registered Buffy’s arrival and then the strange girl that would quit ‘inspecting’ him. Captain Reynolds and the others burst through the door several beats later.

Buffy whirled on them, finger extended in warning, ‘Just…wait…’ 

Zoe crossed her arms over her breasts, Jayne next to Zoe propped his fists on hips and looked menacing, Mal bent double catching his breath. River, smiling went to stand with Angel and Spike.

Pointing, she said, ‘That is Miranda’s moon, Caliban. In the Tempest, Caliban loved Miranda.’

Both Angel and Spike turned to her quizzically. River didn’t take her eyes from the sky.

Buffy, cringing, apologized, ‘I’m sorry. I tried to tell you. Just, let us handle it.’ 

‘I’m sorry.’ Buffy said cringing. ‘I tried to tell you to just let us handle it.’

‘I don’t recognize any of this…’ Angel said, pointing at the stars.

Comically, Spike snorted. Zoe dropped her arms, adopting an easier posture, having determined the Vampire wasn’t a threat. If he was, they would all be in a heap inside. Mirth bubble, and twinkled in her eyes, as Jayne reached over to pull the Captain upright. He was still gasping for breath.

Patting the Captain on the shoulder, she said, ‘Sir.’ Her tone, indicating she was leaving.

Jayne followed her. 

Mal stuttered, ‘Here! Where are you going?’

‘Home.’ Zoe and Jayne answered in unison.

‘Hobie needed to be in bed an hour ago.’ Zoe called as she strode away.

‘I need to clean Vera.’ Jayne said, shrugging.

‘Well…’ Mal stuttered.

‘Night, Sir.’ Zoe called again.

Jayne waved a hand over his shoulder in farewell.

Mal turned back to Buffy, thinking of Inara at home, ‘So, I can see that you have this well in hand. I'm just going to head on back to Inara then. You, ugh…you come see me tomorrow. We'll talk then. So, alright, then. River, lets…go…’ he trailed off haltingly, paused as if to say something more, thought better of it, and turned to go. ‘River!’

River followed, peppering him with questions he didn’t have answers for.

Buffy and Spike glanced at each other, bemused by the Captain’s departure, then turned their attention back to Angel and the night sky of Miranda. ‘Come on. Let’s take a walk. I'll bring you to Connor and on the way Spike and I will explain everything to you.’ She said, laying a hand on Angel's back.


	22. Twenty Two

**Twenty-Two**

Giles straightened, rolled his neck and stretched, flexing his chest muscles. It felt so good he stood and bent at the waist, giving in to a proper stretch. It was heavenly. Regaining the uncomfortable stool he was using as a desk chair he pulled his glasses off and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Blinking away the burning sensation in his eyes, he gave his glasses a polish and sat them back on his exhausted face. Glancing at the clock, he realized he was missing Angel’s reanimation and had been in the warehouse working for twenty hours.

Grateful in the beginning for the distraction of learning who these people were, he would’ve gone completely daft without it, he was now wishing to have never been removed from cryo-preservation. Each time he completed a file and opened a new one, the soul crushing reality of their circumstances would barge in. It was worse when the file belonged to a child.

Weeks ago, when it became clear a crime was perpetrated against all of them, he walked out of the warehouse needing a break and went for a walk. He didn’t come back for ten days. Blessedly, and he never thought he would hear himself say this, Buffy had Spike. She busied herself with him and making ready homes for Angel and the rest. In truth, what she had done for him in his own home helped him more than he comprehended at first. During his respite, he made a point of getting to know Miranda’s other inhabitants and had since, begun to forge some new relationships.

Inara was educated, delightful, company. Jayne a formidable weapon and amusing in a way that appealed to the adolescent in him. Mal a wiley, excellent judge of character, obviously military, but not insufferably so and all-around interesting man. Zoe reminded him of Joyce in many ways. If Buffy’s mother were raised in and worked for the military, he imagined she might be like Zoe. Babatunde, Zoe’s uncle, a calm, soft spoken man, that chose his words carefully often sat with him and Zoe during shared meals. Babatunde worked with Kaylee at the hydro-farm and his wife, Simisola, worked at The Kitchen during Community Dinner and cared for Hobie when Zoe wasn’t planet side.

Hearing voices in the front of the room, he popped his head up expecting to see Angel. He did. Buffy was with him and Spike followed. ‘She’s brought him to see Connor.’ he realized, closing Jodi Mills file. Making his way leisurely across the expanse of the massive room, he didn’t rush to say ‘hello,’ knowing it would take Angel several moments to accept what he was seeing, then make the adjustments needed after realizing his son was in a tube.

‘Lord knows you did…’ he sighed.

Coming closer it was evident Angel was agitated and making demands. His Slayer had chosen her path long ago, but time had not seen its complications lessen. Her ability to control not one, but two of the most ruthless Vampires in history wasn’t a mystery to anyone that knew her. However, Buffy was standing between Angel and his son and the Vampire was unwilling to listen to reason. Electing to allow Angel his melt down she was unprepared when he moved around her and began to pull the tube apart. Spike shoved Angel away from the tube before any damage could be done and for this, received a vicious punch that sent him sprawling. The distraction allowed Buffy to take position in front of the tube.

Giles, already running before Angel began assaulting Connor’s tube, arrived in time to watch Angel get knocked on his extra-large ass, while Buffy animatedly yelled, ‘Because it will kill him! You big dumb idiot!’

Giles, puffing only a little pulled his glasses from his eyes and gave them a swipe with the tail of his shirt while Angel radiated anger from the floor.

Buffy, ready for him to try her again, didn’t offer him reprieve or apology, waiting him out.

Spike tested his jaw wiggling it and said to Giles, ‘That’s the one never had a wealth of brains.’

‘Shut up, Spike.’ Both Angel and Buffy said in unison.

They each received a recalcitrant scowl from Spike who muttered about thanklessness and stomped away. It was Giles who broke the tense standoff, offering a hand to Angel after putting his glasses on. Angel was angry, unreasonably so, but in the last moments realized Connor was only part of it. Relaxing the rigid, flexing, muscles that would allow him to spring at her, he took the hand offered him and murmured his ‘Thanks.’

Giles heaved the big frame off the floor with a grunt saying, ‘Buffy is correct you know. You can’t just haul the boy out of the tube. You'll do irreparable damage to his nervous system. The fact the boy is Dhampir isn’t enough to keep the harm you'll do him at bay.’

Spike, from several steps away gestured in frustration when Angel didn’t respond, but made it clear the information hand finally sunk in, by the grimace and reluctant nod of acceptance. Only then, did Buffy move away from the tube allowing him to approach.

‘How soon can I get him out of there?’ Angel asked.

‘Well, that’s another discussion in itself, Angel.’ Giles began, then stated without censure, ‘Connor isn’t exactly a priority for us or the community at present.’

Angel opened his mouth to give Giles an ultimatum, but Buffy talked over him moving back to the tube, certain Angel would try to open it again. Exasperation painted the air between them and she didn’t hold back, ‘That’s just great, Giles. Way to maintain the peace.’

‘Buffy, I don’t have the ability to sugar coat it for him. He’s not a child. I understand the need to do that for others, but this is Angel. He’s a grown…Vampire, capable of withstanding the blow of unvarnished truth about this place. The truth is, we have a situation requiring us to use intuition, employ delicacy only when needed, and to not personally succumb to the weight of it.’ Giles was angry and tired and it showed. ‘We’re not deviating from the schedule because one… Vampire, can’t get his fragile emotions under control.’ He turned to Angel to finish, ‘Frankly, I need you to stop acting like a disobedient school boy and listen to Buffy. It’s not possible you’ve been awake long enough to know the tale, consider what all this requires,’ he gestured broadly at the room, ‘and I could use some help!’ With that, the Librarian pivoted away muttering to himself.

Spike followed Giles, casting a glance at Buffy. He was letting her know he would stay with the Watcher and try to get to get him to either eat or sleep. Giles speech had landed on him in a way that left him feeling as if he himself hadn’t been pulling his own weight. When he jerked his chin at Angel, indicating she should go on without him, he was rewarded with a soft, appreciative smile that made his heart thump several beats in a row.

Abashed, Angel watched Giles disappear down a row of tubes, then witnessed the interplay between Buffy and Spike. When it was finished, he watched as Spike laid a hand on Giles shoulder and then, for the first time since coming into the room, really looked at it. Hundreds of tubes filled the enormous room kept purposefully dim. Except for echoing footfalls, it was utterly silent. ‘What the hell is really going on here?’

Buffy tried to think if she had ever seen Giles so cold. ‘So, out of sorts.’ She had. Obviously, she forgot what it looked like. ‘No. You haven’t been paying attention.’ She thought pointedly, scolding herself. Angel turned to face her; incredulity written in his eyes. Shrugging, she said, ‘It is what it is. Take as much time as you need. I’ll be over here. When you’re ready, I’ll tell you the rest and take you home.’ 


	23. Twenty-Three

Twenty-Three

Unbeknownst to anyone, Giles talked with Simon and the pair engaged the combination lock on the warehouse door. Giles apparently explained to Mal, ‘Now that we will be reanimating several people at once, it might be wise to limit access to the warehouse.’ Citing the near tragedy with Angel and Connor as motivation, Mal agreed. This morning, Buffy took matters into her own hands, having Angel and Spike rip the door from its hinges, effectively ending the debate, by promising Giles it would be so each time she found it locked.

Storming into The Kitchen afterward, she unloaded on Captain Reynolds. ‘Might I remind you, Captain, these are my people. We had an agreement. ‘We,’ you and I, not you and Giles. I will also kindly remind you that in the future, I will personally hold you responsible for the actions of your people the same way you would for me and mine. As agreed. I’ll deal with Giles. I expect you to have a word with Dr. Tam.’ She finished, flashing hot, angry, eyes at Simon. 

Mal calmly listened and considered what this slip of a girl was saying, reminding himself he had indeed shaken hands on an agreement with her, giving his word. Unused to being dressed down by anyone but Inara, he put a damper on his rising need to regain control of the conversation. Diplomacy was new to him and while the current governing body on Miranda wasn’t a democracy, it wasn’t in him to be an iron fist. If they were on Serenity, that might actually be an issue. Now that Buffy was done raking him over the sharp edge of her ire, he nodded acquiescence surprising his crew, gathered in The Kitchen for the morning meal, and said, ‘As you say. Might I suggest you settle this matter with your folks in a hurry. I understand your number two Slayer is reanimating today.’

‘She is and I will. See you this evening.’ Buffy replied, before turning on her heel to leave.

Faith was actually reanimating in less than an hour, but she was so irritated she forgot to mention it. Okay, she didn’t forget, she just didn’t feel like apologizing to Captain Reynolds when Faith inevitably tried to kill him. Besides, Simon no doubt clarified the point before she was two steps out the door. Hauling in several deep breaths she used the time walking to the Lab to cool her temper in the same way she attempted, but failed to do, on the way to The Kitchen.

‘I wish Giles would engage the ‘trust mode’ on his robot brain.’ She gripped, not comfortable with the nagging feeling she should turn around and offer an apology for speaking her mind. Which, she absolute was not going to do. Her anger was justified and Giles got an earful of it as well.

‘Yeah, but that was in private.’ Guilt stated, making its case.

‘So… If Captain Reynolds doesn’t like it, he should mind his business.’ She countered, stubbornly.

Lately it felt as if Giles wasn’t happy unless had some form of controversy stirred up. It wasn’t like she was clueless about his worries, but his heavy handedness was getting…well, out of hand. If she weren’t so put out with Giles, she probably wouldn’t have stormed into The Kitchen and yelled at the Captain like they were dating.

Groaning, she uttered a furious, ‘GraUGHwrrerdamnit!’

In the distance, she noted Giles scooter and watched Spike pull into the parking lot at the Lab. Poseidon was hers and she used him all the time, frequently leaving Spike without transportation. So, Spike had gone ‘vehicle shopping’ and returned with a sleek black ‘golf cart’ that suited him perfectly. Angel pulled in behind him, in his own sleek black golf cart. She rolled her eyes; this is what she was talking about. Not a united front at all. She might as well ask Santa Clause to show up and remind everyone they were ‘this close’ to being on the naughty list! With still another month until the Scoobs reanimated, but only two weeks until the Winchester’s joined them, she hoped to foster some unity between the five of them in a hurry. Otherwise, they were in for a long, painful, few months and a possible…mutiny.

Both Spike and Angel came to meet her, instead of going inside.

‘Hey.’ She said in greeting.

‘How did it go?’ Spike asked.

‘I don’t want to talk about it?’ She deflected regretfully.

‘That good, Luv? Well…’ he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders teasing her, ‘Let’s go in here and get Faith and see if we can’t put an exclamation point on this cock up of a morning. Yeah?’

Swatting him, she pulled her lips in on themselves, trying to squash the mirth bubbling up in her.

‘Or…’ he went on genially, pulling her toward the Lab, ‘We can put the whole thing off until tomorrow and go home and shag our brains out.’

‘Spike!’ she complained, mirth vanishing, ‘Don’t…’

‘Come on, Luv. Long day ahead.’ He said, ignoring the reprimand.

Angel glowered thinking, ‘She can’t possibly…how…?’ Seconds later she was laughing at him. Angel had seen Spike use this ‘method’ for coping before. Buffy had a job to do, but her anger at Giles was going to be a problem for the rest of the day. Spike, being Spike, redirected that irritation to himself, then diffused it by being ‘charming.’ It was actually brilliant and he hated it, not understanding how she couldn't see that he was manipulating her.

Linking her fingers in Spike’s, they walked toward the door of the Lab. Once inside, it was stiff and awkward, made even more so when Simon joined them. He looked as if he wanted to talk about ‘the incident,’ but decided against it when Buffy gave no indication, she would be willing to hear from him on anything more than Faith. With no one willing to break the tension in the room, Angel took it upon himself to ask the relevant questions.

‘So, how long?’ he asked the room at large.

‘She’s ready. We were just waiting on…you all, earlier.’ Simon stammered.

‘Well, here we are.’ Buffy clipped; her voice hard.

Simon’s face projected pure regret and he finally said, ‘Buffy, I am so sorry. I…’

She cut him off, but didn’t look at him as she spoke. Leveling her still angry eyes at Giles, she said, ‘It’s alright, Simon. I forgive you. Let’s not let something like this happen again though. Okay?’ She said, flicking her eyes to him as she finished.

Simon swallowed hard, nodded in the affirmative, then administered the drug that would reanimate Faith over the next five minutes. Glad to have his part in this day mostly over, he stepped away and let the others gather around the tube to wait.

Buffy took the place next to Angel waiting for Faith, noting that Captain Reynolds appeared to have learned his lesson, declining to make an appearance.

‘Wow...’ she chastised herself, ‘Ya know, it takes a lot of energy to keep this much anger brewing.’

Rolling her neck, she began the meditation Giles had taught her, but she was obviously just ‘going to be angry!’

Spike slipped in behind her, knowing what to do, working at the knot where her shoulder and neck met. She loved that he noticed these kinds of little things, taking care of her when she was too distracted to ask for it or take care of it herself. He tried to do this before, in Sunnydale, but she wouldn’t allow him to. 'Too boyfriendy’ and she wasn’t ready for any of that at the time. She was glad now, that he hadn’t stopped taking the initiative when it came to caring for her.

'Maybe you should reciprocate soon.' She challenged herself, pointedly. 'Okay! Fine! I'm mad at everything, but mostly myself! There...happy? Geeze!' Shoving everything away, she focused on Spike and his fingers. 

When the five minutes had come and gone, Simon asked everyone to step away. Opening Faith’s tube, he checked the read out and in just a few clicks he determined everything was normal.

'She's fully reanimated, but doesn't want to wake up.' he announced.

Oddly, it seemed as if she were actually asleep. A possibility he hadn’t considered. Jotting it down in his tablet, along with a few more notes, he gave the woman a few more moments to wake up on her own.

Buffy observed Simon in the tense silence, curious about what could be wrong. So far, each of them had a different experience waking up. If her theory held true, in a few minutes Faith would re-experience her last memories of being awake. Buffy and Spike were angry. Giles was babbling. Angel was concerned for Connor. She couldn’t be certain, but she thought Faith was still inside the machine when the incident had happened, supervising Robin’s transfer out of the machine so her first questions, would more than likely be about him.

Simon finished his entry and said, ‘Angel, come and talk to her.’

Angel stepped forward without hesitation, ‘Faith, are you awake?’

When there wasn’t a response, he laid his cool hand on hers and gave it a shake.

‘Faith, it’s time to wake up.’ He encouraged.

Faith’s eyelids fluttered open, then closed again.

‘Faith, time to wake up.’ Angel said again, only slightly louder this time.

She opened her eyes then and kept them open, focusing.

‘Angel?’ she asked, her voice groggy, it cracked when she said, ‘Hi…? **’**

Simon handed Angel some water, he offered it to Faith who was struggling to her elbows.

‘Just a sip. Slowly.’ Angel coached, guiding a straw into her mouth.

He allowed her the barest sip before pulling the straw away. Watching it go, she frowned in protest, chasing it with her teeth.

Angel distracted her by asking, ‘How do you feel?’

Puzzled, she considered her answer. ‘I don’t know. Did I fall asleep?’

Simon stepped forward then, ‘For a little while.’ He said, tentatively. Recognizing Faith’s disorientation and subsequent question, set off his alarm bells. River would sometimes answer his question of, ‘How do you feel?’ with the exact same answer when he found her disoriented or confused as to her location. Of course, Faith was a complete stranger, not his sister, but the feeling of familiarity was overriding the idea that he was being ridiculous. Especially now that she was lucid, she followed it up with ‘Shall I go now?’ sitting up to be dismissed.

It was verbatim the script he used with River. If he were to say, ‘If you’d like.’ He was certain Faith would stand up and wander away without any clear idea of where she was going. Instead, he said, ‘Not just yet. We want to talk to you a little first. Is that okay?' He asked.

Faith, now sitting, legs dangling over the side of the tube, looked past Angel and Simon to see Buffy, Giles, and Spike behind them. Suddenly, as if her mind shifted into gear her demeanor changed. ‘Hey, B.’ She said familiarly, looking over the Lab then down at her legs, her expressions changing with her thoughts and questions. Buffy drew her full attention as she came forward, replying, ‘Hey…’ in return. Noting the cautious manner in which her former rival approached, she maneuvered herself from the tube she was in, ‘Tell me I didn’t try to kill you again.’ 

‘Go slow.’ Angel instructed her, as she worked her way from the tube. ‘Your legs are going to be weak.’

Buffy answered overtop of Angel, laughing, ‘No. We’re good.’

Feet on the floor, a blanket clutched around her and questions a plenty, she asked Angel, ‘Have I been sick?’

‘No.’ he shook his head.

‘What is this thing?’ she asked, gesturing at the tube.

‘Let’s get you settled first. Okay?’ He prompted.

‘Okay… Where we going?’ She asked.

Buffy took over from there, ‘Shower, clothes, food.’ Then we'll talk.

‘Shower and clothes, fine. I can’t eat when I first wake up. Takes a few hours.’ She said, on the way to the bathroom in the Lab.

Two hours later, after vomit, apologizing, placating, consoling, promising and a trip outside to prove that neither Spike or Angel would burst into flames and turn to dust, which was where they should have started in the first place, because it was what finally convinced her, Faith was ready to crawl back in her tube and go to sleep. Angel sat with her on the curb just outside the Lab, arm wrapped around her, comforting her as much as could be expected.

Buffy and the others kept there distance. Knowing exactly how Faith felt, they gave her all the time she needed. Usually in this sort situation one of them would crack a joke, but Xander was in a tube and there wasn’t anything funny about this. You're never prepared for the news that your planet has been destroyed by demons because you failed to do your job. When Buffy considered how many more times she would have to do this, she almost started crying too.

With nothing left but Faith's sniffles, Angel said, ‘On the upside, your new place is a gigantic penthouse, but… It’s probably best if you stay with me for a while. Or, I can stay with you. Either way, it's your choice and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Just understand that you won’t be alone.’ He finished.

‘Where else would I stay?’ she chuckled through the last few sniffles, then said seriously, ‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather not be alone right now. So, I guess we could… Oh my God!’ she exclaimed abruptly, cutting her sentence off.

‘Crap…here it comes.’ Buffy sighed.

‘Robin…where is Robin?’ she demanded.

‘He’s in a cryo-tube.’ They all answered in unison.

Faith visibly relaxed. ‘When are you going to take him out?’

‘Soon.’ Buffy said, from behind her. ‘It’s a process that takes two weeks to a month depending on the person for the entire process to be completed.’

Faith nodded, appearing to have accepted that explanation, not sure what it said about her that she was just now asking about him. Then, her stomach growled.

‘Is there anything to eat? I'm starving.’ She said, changing the subject.

‘Angel, do you have any food at your place?’ Buffy asked.

He shook his head sheepishly in the negative.

‘I guess we’re going over to The Kitchen then.’ Buffy declared, squashing her uneasiness.

While they were walking, they each answered more of Faith’s questions. Or, tried to.

Just as everything was settling down and they were able to move on to the rest of it, Captain Reynolds jogged around the corner with an armload of laundry baskets. He was apparently being chased by Hobie.

Faith froze, her entire body on alert.

‘Oh bollocks!’ Spike complained.

‘Angel!’ Buffy called sharply, but he was already on her.

Wrapping his big body around Faith’s, he pinned her arms down, holding her tight. Buffy stepped agilely into Faith’s line of sight and began explaining to the furious Slayer. 

‘Faith!’ She said, using the same sharp tone, then transitioning into a loud, but calm voice, in order to be heard over Faith's screaming. ‘Remember! He’s not who you think. That's Captain Reynolds.’

Faith couldn’t, or wouldn’t, hear her. She gave up, allowing Angel to take over, though he was just barely holding on to her, he spoke calmly into her ear, 'That is not Caleb. It's Captain Reynolds.'

The Slayer fought him like a deranged cat. Eventually, she would get away and then Miranda help them all.

Buffy spun to Mal, who stupidly watched the scene play out. ‘Get. Out. Of. Here!’ She demanded as if he were and idiot, then regretfully added, ‘Please.’

Mal didn’t move.

‘I would run, if I were you, Mate.’ Spike called to him seriously.

Mal took Hobie by the hand and left the newcomers to their Slayer and pondered, ‘I’m thinking, sooner rather than later, they need their own Lab over there.’

Faith screamed threats and obscenities at the Captains retreating form, demanding that Buffy not, ‘Just stand there! KILL HIM!’

‘Faith, that isn’t Caleb!’ Buffy insisted, at the limit of her tolerance for this day.

Suddenly, Faith stopped fighting, focused on Buffy’s face and grabbed the side of her head, panic filling her eyes. The Slayer then screamed in such a way that it chilled each of them to the bone and promptly fainted. For all of two beats no one moved in the stunned silence. Abruptly, Angel scooped the woman into his arms, turned toward the Lab and disappeared.

Before they could pursue, Simon said, ‘Wait! We’re going to need a transport. Someone get one, preferably something with some room we can lay her flat it.’

‘I’ll go.’ Giles offered.

‘I know where there's something.’ Spike said, and the group split.

Once back in the Lab, Simon immediately took her vitals, then doped her. If he was feeling ridiculous about the parallels he was drawing between Faith and River before, he was completely over it now. Since the woman woke, everything she did or said screamed for him to acknowledge the similarities between the two. Thankfully, he had been making preparations to bring the 3-D Neuro-imager from the hospital to the Lab. It wasn’t terribly far, seven miles giver or take, but it was more convenient to have it in the Lab now that there was enough manpower to move it. 

‘Where are we going?’ Buffy asked him.

‘Hospital.’ He answered, hooking Faith to a portable vitals monitor.

Once done, they slid her onto a Gurney wheeled her out of the building, and loaded her into a delivery ‘van.’ It was actually about the size of a pro ball players high-top sneaker. Giles drove the van, Angel road with Faith and Simon, while Buffy and Spike followed in his sexy black golf cart.

It took twenty minutes to get her into the ‘Imager.’ Simon fretted over her, checking and rechecking her vitals, while waiting for the machine to power up. When the hologram finally appeared above her, Simon went to work and they stayed out of his way. It was fascinating to watch him move the hologram of Faith’s brain this way and that with the motion of his hands. The problem was clear. You didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to understand what you were seeing. One entire section of Faith’s brain was completely quiet, like it was asleep. The other, looked like a lightning storm.

‘I’ll be back.’ Simon said, without preamble leaving the room. When he returned, he carried three syringes. Motioning to Angel, for help he paused just before jabbing the needle into her vein, ‘Is it going to be a problem for you if you smell her blood?’

‘No.’ the Vampires answered in unison.

Simon nodded his understanding and administered the injection. The other two followed in quick succession. Generally, medicines were administered with air needles, but Simon found that for some reason, River’s body responded better to medication injected directly into the vein. He couldn’t be certain, but he was betting it would be the same with Faith. Finished, he stood back to watch the hologram.

‘Now what?’ Angel asked, unable to take not knowing.

‘We wait.’ Simon answered.

So, they waited. They watched the hologram, they watched the walls, they picked at their nails and scratched itchy places. They paced in circles or back and forth between rooms and occasionally inspected a medical instrument.

It was torture.

After fifteen minutes Angel asked, ‘Wait for how long?’

Simon’s mouth fished open and closed a few times. Obviously, there wasn’t going to be a readily available answer for the question. Stumbling through a few non-committal sentences, he finally gave up and simply answered, ‘Until she wakes up. Everyone is different.’

Angel was aggravated, worried and he was going to start an argument about it.

Giles stepped in and suggested, ‘Dr. Tam, why don’t you explain to Angel about our Alliance troubles. I'm sure he had the basics explained to him, but it might help him if you were to elaborate on the subject while we wait. On Earth, you see, it was Angel’s job to help people who found themselves in predicaments similar to yours.’

‘I…thought he worked for an evil law firm.’ Simon blurted, baldly.

‘It wasn’t evil.’ Angel complained.

Spike scoffed and Buffy said, ‘Psh, yeah…right.’

‘Okay, it was evil, but what I meant was, I didn’t work for them.’ He resisted.

‘You did!’ Spike insisted, laughing at the denial.

‘Alright! Fine…I worked there, but I wasn’t evil. Satisfied?’ he adjusted.

Buffy, smiling at Simon, pointed at her nose.

‘It was complicated. I was trying to eradicate the evil from the inside so I could retire. You worked there too!’ He finished, pointing an accusing finger at Spike.

‘Yes, well, that wasn’t a very good plan now, was it?’ Giles said, frankly.

Angel chafed at the remark.

They had lost Simon completely.

‘Giles, that’s not fair.’ Buffy chastised, not willing to take his side on anything today.

‘Thank you!’ Angel exclaimed and gestured at Giles waiting on an apology. 

He didn’t get one.

Simon, throwing Giles a bone stepped into the tense silence to diffuse it.

‘Well, you see, 'my' troubles with the Alliance are 'our' troubles with the Alliance. I have a sinking feeling that whatever Faith’s ‘situation’ is it will mirror River’s. I’ll come back to that.’ Pausing, he considered how to tell his tale, then began. ‘As far as the Alliance is concerned, you are all accomplices to the ‘criminal fugitives’ from the law, Dr. Simon Tam and River Tam. The Alliance has taken the stance that River is their property and I am a thief.’

From there, he proceeded to fill Angel in on the details concerning his personal beef with the Alliance. Including losing Wash and Sheppard Book. Details none of them were privy to until now. He ended with River revealing her abilities by single handedly massacring a horde of Reavers and saving all their lives. 

‘So, what are you doing about the Reavers?’ Angel asked.

‘Nothing.’ Simon blinked. ‘We stay clear of them, unless we want to die.’

‘And this…Alliance, isn’t doing anything about them?’ he questioned.

Simon considered how he should answer the question, landing on, ‘If they did anything about it, it would be an acknowledgement of guilt. If they’re guilty, River and I aren’t fugitives. River is a weapon they will stop at nothing to possess. So, we steer clear.’

They sat in silence while contemplating that bit of information. Needless to say, it wasn’t setting well with any of them. They were all American’s. Even Giles, who pulled off his glasses to clean them, a sure sign of his disquiet. Spike glanced to Buffy and shook his head in consternation, thinking, ‘People can really be disgusted.’ She nodded, knowing exactly what he was thinking, attempting to console him with soft eyes. It was a disturbing story and Angel was pissed, but that wasn’t anything new, he was always pissed.

‘Why, does the Alliance want River specifically though?’ Giles asked.

‘As I said, she has limited pre-cognitive abilities and she's deadly in combat situations. But,' he hedged, 'they might not have pursued her, or us rather, if I hadn’t, destroyed their data when I took her. It’s made it impossible for them to duplicate the results they had with her.’ Simon supplied.

‘Nice one, Doc!’ Spike laughed.

A smile twitched at the corner of Simon’s mouth. ‘I got lucky.’ He demurred. He had to admit being praised for saving his sister felt good. It was the first time anyone accept River or Kaylee had ever done so. Their lives were in perpetual danger because of his actions. No one ever thought to say ‘Way to go, Simon!’

‘How did you end up with the Captain?’ Angel asked.

‘He was on Persephone, taking on passengers. We needed a ride.’ Simon said.

Faith stirred in the neuro chair. The conversation was over.

‘Faith…’ Simon said quietly, not wanting to startle her.

‘No. That’s, not my name. Did I fall asleep?’ She asked, sounding more confused than before.

'There's the question again.' Simon noted, and he responded just like he should, ‘Yes, for a little while.’ Then, ‘Your name isn’t Faith?’ he asked, carefully.

Blinking, he could see her disorientation. Watching her pupils closely for any indication she was in distress, he waited for her answer. Eventually, her confusion cleared, ‘I…yes, I’m Faith.’

He smiled, indicating she was correct. ‘Faith, do you remember who I am?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, you’re that doctor guy, ugh…Simon.’ She answered.

‘That’s right.’ He replied, ‘I'm doing a few tests to discover why you had such a bad headache.’

‘Oh. Well, okay. I guess, that’s alright.’ She allowed.

‘Good. Can I ask you to lay back in the chair again?’ he requested.

Faith complied, while Simon went back to work.

‘Well,’ Simon began, ‘The med’s have worked. You brain activity has evened out…but, have you ever suffered any kind of traumatic brain injury?’ he asked.

Faith had scarring similar to Rivers in her memory center.

Flicking her eyes to Buffy, she asked without words how to respond to that.

Buffy indicated that ‘she had this’ and said, ‘I…threw her off of a building once. She was in a coma for several years.’

Faith, flicked her amused glance back to Simon, just as she thought. Horrified. ‘Trust me, Doc. I had it coming.’ She joked, thinking, ‘B never pulls any punches when it’s time to fess up.’

‘I… That, isn’t this…’ he stammered, gesturing at the hologram of Faith’s brain. Practically speechless, mouth hanging open in shock while they had a good chuckle, his own brain screamed, ‘Who are these people?’ Every time he spent more than five minutes with one of them, he came away with no clear understanding of how the human race even survived! Deciding absolutely not to comment on that bit of information, focused on the medical aspect. ‘I have seen this kind of scarring before, only different. Let me explain, better. Um, Alliance doctors, physically cut into Rivers brain over and over again, stripping away layers of membrane protecting her memory center. Faith, you brain wasn’t sliced into. This is more like electro scarring in your memory center. It’s as if your memory has been erased over and over again and your surrounding tissue has developed a sort of callus. It’s the likely cause of your disorientation and memory loss.’ He explained.

‘But…I have my memory.’ Faith answered, perplexed.

‘I know.’ He answered, offering no other explanation. ‘If you don’t mind, I'm going to keep these images and continue to work at finding an answer for you.’

‘Sure.’ She chirped, shrugging offhandedly.

‘For now, I'm recommending Angel take you home to rest, with the promise you come see me immediately if anything else happens.’ He instructed. Pulling a bottle from his pocket he added, ‘Also, take two of these, every six hours. They're a simple anti-inflammatory. Regardless of any new incident, come and see me again in two days, to follow up. Okay?’ he finished.

She nodded her understanding. ‘Yes.’

‘Oh! And, another thing. You can’t attack Captain Reynolds. He doesn’t like it and will probably put you in the lock up if you try that again.’ He cautioned.

Faith remembered, ‘I’m sorry!’ She exclaimed, jerking back to Buffy.

‘It’s fine. No harm, no foul. We’ve all been there. Try to remember everything you hear over the next few day though. You're going to like Captain Reynolds after you get to know him. Sure, it’s weird at first. They could be identical twins, but they are nothing alike.’ Buffy assured.

‘Okay…’ Faith agreed, skeptically. Climbing out of the imager, she resisted the urge to ask Simon, ‘Should I go now?’ and instead announced, ‘I’m still hungry.’


	24. Twenty Four

**Twenty-Four**

In a meeting of minds and shocking unity, it was decided that hence forth the ‘cryo-schedule’ would run concurrent to the bi-weekly Community Dinner schedule. Reasoning, it made the most sense convenience wise to do so, as reanimation took two weeks. This gave the recently reanimated time to absorb the information regarding their former lives, if not necessarily come to terms with it, then meet the community. The morning after Com-Din, the process would begin for the next victims.

The Community Dinner was an important event to the residents of Serenity Township, named so in honor of the beloved ship ‘Serenity’ that no longer left the ground. Wanted posters emblazoned with the likeness of the ship, made it too dangerous to take her anywhere the entire length and breadth of the ‘Verse. The ritual of a family dinner, begun on Serenity, continued after moving to the surface as an attempt to keep the spirit of family traditions alive. As a rule, attendance at Community Dinner was mandatory. Therefore, it made the most sense to utilize the dinner to introduce the additions to the community.

Tonight, Faith would be formally introduced, and in the morning, Sam and Dean Winchester would begin the process of reanimation. Buffy had intended for only the brothers to join them next. Remembering their resistance to the existence of ‘souled’ Vampires, it was her wish to quickly foster a relationship between Angel, Spike, and the brothers, without any opposing influences.

‘If only.’ She huffed in frustration.

Giles, once again thwarted any hopes of an advantage for Spike or Angel by insisting that a Sheriff, associated with the brothers, was reanimated with them. Presumably, the Sheriff would be an easier reanimation and acclimation than the angel they claimed as an associate.

‘Presumably…’

As it stood, Buffy knew what to expect from everyone that was reanimated. Further, she had given her word to the ‘Governor’ of Miranda that she personally, would answer to him for all 1247 of them. ‘What were you thinking?’ she admonished herself. ‘Maybe you can renegotiate?’

Thinking back two weeks ago to the scene she made in The Kitchen, she decided against that. She absolutely wouldn’t capitulate and lose face. However, the power struggle between her and Giles was becoming real. Hopefully, when she could talk to Willow about it, she would gain some perspective. Two days ago, Giles insisted Riley be next on the reanimation schedule. She put the kabash on that immediately, putting her foot down hard. As she did, she saw the rift widen between them. As if the others could see it as well, they backed her. Only then, did Giles back down.

‘It’s going to be an interesting two weeks.’ She complained, swiping on mascara. ‘What could go wrong.’

‘You look delicious.’ Spike said, sidling up behind her.

Taking her hips firmly in his hands, he watched while she swiped some blush over her cheek bones. Pulling the length of her hair away, he pressed a kiss to the ever-present knot of stress in the curve of her neck and shoulder. It felt good. To show her appreciation for his compliments and kissed, she wiggled her bottom against him, playfully. The hand still occupied with her hip tightened. The one with her hair, coiled the strands around his fingers and tugged firmly, but not enough to hurt. Grazing his teeth over the stress knot, he breathed against it in a scolding tone that was playfully disapproving, ‘None of that now, or we will be late.’

To show how much authority the tone held with her she, shifted in deliberate sensuality.

‘Insubordination.’ He growled into her ear.

She grinned and twisted, slipping away to dress.

He followed, as always.

*******

Already in their sexy black golf cart, Spike refused to name it, that sat in silence, waiting for Giles. They didn’t listen to music while riding together, because Spike and Giles argued the entire time, over who was the bigger musical genius between The Ramones or Deep Purple, or was it Velvet Underground, she couldn’t remember and it didn’t matter since she had no idea what the were even talking about. The Purple Underground argument was the last straw for her either way and that was the end of music when Giles was in the car. What did it matter when there was all of this, she locked over her surroundings, to contend with? Now she was irritated for no reason and Giles just came through the heavy glass doors on his way to meet them.

After he was settled, she asked, ‘Are we all set for tomorrow?’ Hoping to improve the atmosphere.

Giles didn't look at her, but answered vaguely, ‘Yes. The, tubes were moved yesterday morning.’

She tried at conversation again. ‘I’m concerned about how to get them through this. I don’t know them.’ She admitted.

‘We'll just have to look to Simon for answers.’ Giles deflected. ‘He didn’t know you and he managed to get you through it quite well, I think.’

‘Why hadn’t she thought of that?’ she wondered.

Spike circled around, pulling up in front of Angel’s place. Faith was going to ride with them. Buffy hoped out to collect her. Before she could knock, Angel opened the door and Faith stepped into the opening. She was wearing a sundress of sorts that had a tiny floral print on it. Buffy, shocked speechless, took Faith in. She had never seen her in anything so ‘girly’ let along a dress. Unconscious of the fact that she was staring, Angel cleared his throat to cover for her. She had made Faith uncomfortable. ‘Sorry…’ she stammered.

Visibly frustrated, she pulled at the skirt and demanded, ‘What?’

‘Ugh! what nothing! You look great!’ Buffy exclaimed, confiding. ‘I like it and they will too!’

Faith grimaced and fussed with the dress again while they piled into the golf cart. It was a tight squeeze, but they managed it. Giles and Angel in the back, Spike driving, Buffy in the middle and Faith next to her. This was better. This was a united front. This made her happy.

Spike pulled away and Giles remarked, ‘Faith, I must say that you look rather lovely this evening. It’s quite a fetching picture you’ve made.’

Faith mumbled a thank you at Giles and Angel said, ‘See, I told you.’

‘You look fetching tonight as well, Buffy.’ Spike said, shooting an irritated glance at the back seat.

At once the men in the backseat complimented Buffy’s appearance. She chuckled in lighthearted amusement, thanked the backseat, then took her Vampires hand in hers giving it a loving squeeze.

With that out of the way, Buffy nervously coached Faith the entire drive to The Kitchen.

She began, by explaining in detail that, ‘The Kitchen, is formerly a cozy neighborhood diner. Converted for the community’s use due to its overall size, ‘note cozy,’ as well as its pleasing cozy decor. It serves as the pantry/grocery store for the entire community. All the food from the hydro-farm to supply runs are distributed through The Kitchen. It also serves as, a meeting hall, ‘lunch or breakfast counter’ if you aren’t eating at home or if you just need a snack. It’s kept orderly by Petaline and her assistants, Emma and Johnny, on the daily, but Petaline is definitely in charge. On Community Dinner nights, Simisola and Inara assist as well.’ 

She sounded like a prerecorded message at a museum, but she didn’t seem to notice.

‘Everyone is going to want to say hello to you. They've been counseled not to pepper you with questions and wait for you to offer information about yourself or strike up a conversation. So, don’t feel like they’re being standoffish, they aren’t. They’ll want to know everything and if you're feeling ‘chatty,’ you'll find yourself down the rabbit’s hole before you know it. So, be aware of that. They'll introduce themselves and welcome you. They'll offer you this or that. All you have to do this evening is say thank you. You don’t have to commit to anything social. It’s just information.’ She finished as Spike parked the car.

'Thanks, Mom.' Faith teased. 

'You're welcome.' Buffy deadpanned. 

No one offered to add anything, opting to let Buffy do her thing, since she'd done the same for them when it was there turn to meet the community. All the Community Dinners so far, were Vegetarian affairs. Tonight, was no different. Dinner was some kind of potato dish that was wonderfully spicy. When Faith asked, Kaylee claimed someone named Shepard Book taught her to make it and in turn she taught Petaline. The mention of Shepard Book changed the mood of the dinner, until Kaylee related a story the Sheppard had told during a dinner like this one a long time ago, that had everyone rolling in laughter. Buffy noted not for the first time, this ‘crew’ operated much the same as the Scoobs, using humor to power through heart aches. Faith noted it as well and cautiously let herself sink into the experience, surprisingly enjoying the evening and even jump started a friendship or two. 

The evening went well, by all accounts. Better than Buffy could have expected. She saw a side of Faith she didn’t know existed. It seemed that Faith, normally extremely anti-social, was looking at a change for her life as well and navigated the evening like a socialite.

With the exception of the ‘clean-up crew, their group was the last to leave the building. While saying goodnight to Captain Reynolds and Inara, Buffy said, ‘Just so you know, it’s safe to come down to the lab in the morning when we reanimate the Winchester brothers. There is no way to know for sure, but we may need some back up. They don’t know us and we don’t know them. I honestly have no idea how they are going to react to us. Especially when they meet Spike and Angel.’ She confided.

‘Oh! Right. These guys are the demon hunters.’ Mal recalled, flicking a glance at Giles.

‘Yes.’ She agreed, taking note that the Captain and Giles were having another ‘moment.’

Faith, standing behind Buffy stepped around her to speak to Mal. ‘Captain, I just want to say I’m sorry about the other day…again.’

‘No worries.’ Mal assured her, anxious to leave.

‘Thank you for that.’ Her quiet voice lost in the shuffle of tables and chairs.

Mal offered her a stiff smile and he and Inara left.

With that, they filed out of The Kitchen to head ‘home.’ Giles requesting to be dropped at the warehouse, said he would ‘walk the rest of the way home when he was ready’ when asked about it. After dropping Angel and Faith across the courtyard, Buffy and Spike took advantage of the empty elevator to make out. When the doors slid open, Spike slung Buffy over his shoulder and carried her to their closet, tickling the backs of her legs. Giggly hysterically, she threatened him the entire way, promising he was ‘going to get it.’ Tossing her onto the bed and stripping of his clothes, he told her to ‘put her money where her mouth was and prove it.’

So, she did. The next morning, they were late.


	25. Twenty Five

**Twenty-Five**

On Miranda, the day was split into two, fifteen-hour segments. As a result, the sun came up hours before it was time to get out of bed. Buffy had never been so grateful for a walk-in closet. She and Spike slept in it, exclusively.

‘Spike!’ she complained for the third time, ‘Are you up? We’re late and they’re waiting?’

‘Ugh…’ her Vampire grunted.

It just occurred to her, as she rummaged the closet for something to wear, she didn’t have a pet name for Spike. Granted, Spike was a nickname, but not one she had given him. He had a laundry list of cute names for her, but she wasn’t really the ‘cute boyfriend nickname’ type. Goldilocks, Kitten, luv, and a ton of other cute names, not to mention Slayer, which oddly seemed to be his favorite when they were alone.

‘Maybe it’s a Mr. Darcy thing, because ‘Slayer’ is my title?’ she considered.

Sitting at her vanity, she pulled on her shoes and heard him finally opening and closing drawers.

Speaking of laundry, she was slacking big time. Spike was on cooking, she was on laundry and from the sounds of grumbling, he just discovered she filched his last clean t-shirt.

‘Snooze ya lose.’ She said under her breath.

‘I heard that.’ He informed her.

‘Well, maybe if you didn’t keep me in the bed the entire time I’m here, I might get the laundry done.’ She retorted, tucking his over large t-shirt into her pants, thinking better of it and knotting it instead.

Rounding the corner, he stumbled over a pant leg. Correcting his balance, he ‘arranged’ himself, but left his pants gaping open. A sandy patch of curls peeked out and she realized that laundry was a must. Today. The shirt he chose for the day, was draped over a shoulder and he dropped the boots tucked under his arm to the floor. Levering the hot water on, he quickly washed his face, doused his hair and ran a comb over his hair. It exploded into a riotous mass of curls. Frowning at his reflection, he pulled the comb through the two-toned chaos several more times, trying to get it to lay down. Spike’s hair hadn't been cut or been bleached in 500 years and it needed both. His natural color was a dark sandy blond that she actually liked, but wasn’t used too. His bleach blond, slicked back look was bad boy sexy, but that wasn’t who he was deep down.

Reclining on the vanity chair, she wondered why she hadn’t noticed his hair before now. Or, maybe she had. There were so many other things to focus on right now, maybe she just ignored it?

‘I kind of like it.’ She offered, pointing at his hair.

‘Yeah?’ he asked, skeptically.

‘Yeah.’ She nodded, ‘It’s up to you, but I'll help if you want to bleach it I like it either way.’

The doorbell rang.

‘Giles.’ They said.

‘Hurry.’ She said, running the door. Pulling it open, her greeting of ‘Almost ready’ trailed off as the group of people on the other side was revealed, ending in ‘Ugh…’

Spike appeared behind her, having the same reaction.

Hot anger, a feeling she was all too familiar with over the last several weeks, roared to life and took up battle position on her tongue. Managing not to start screaming immediately, she instead said in a furious, gritty, measured tone, ‘Spike. Go and get Angel. Tell him and Faith, to meet us here. Now.’ Stepping wide, she allowed him to move past her. When he was out the door, she motioned for Giles, Mal, Simon, Dean, Sam, and a woman she didn’t know, threw the door. She glared at Simon who looked like he could happily die right there. She didn’t spare Mal either.

Ushering them into the ‘war room’ she didn’t offer drinks.

Spike was back before anyone could take a seat.

Announcing, ‘On their way.’ he walked past a visibly pissed off Buffy and went to work.

Thrusting out a hand, he noted to himself, ‘Lad’s as tall as a tree,’ but said, ‘Hello, Mate. Name’s Spike.’ He hoped to defuse this volatile powder keg of a situation, but it went to shit.

Sam lips tightened and he cast a painful glance at Dean who shrugged at him. Relenting now that he had ‘permission’ so to speak, he took Spike’s hand surprised to find it wasn’t cold. ‘Hi, Sam Winchester. This is my brother, Dean.’ He offered, gesturing at Dean. 

‘Spike.’ He said offering his hand to the other brother.

Dean took Spike’s offered hand without hesitation and looked him in the eye, ‘Hi. Dean...’ Sam gestured to the solidly built, curvy, very attractive, middle aged woman standing next to him. ‘This is Jody Mills, our friend.’

Spike took the woman's measure. She wore an adorable pixie haircut, gone salt and pepper and the dame was sexy as hell. ‘…and dangerous.’ He couldn’t help it, he grinned at her. She didn’t smile back. No way was she going to be distracted by a handsome face, ‘fine by him.’ He wasn’t going to be distracted by her wholesome, drop dead gorgeous appearance either. This ‘Bird’ would stake him in a heartbeat and he knew it. He liked her immediately.

‘Hello.’ He drawled, flirting with her anyway, offering his hand.

She snorted her amusement, ‘Hello.’ She said, shaking hands.

Declining to say hello to the others he retreated, on his best behavior. His ‘Bird’ was in a murderous rage, boring a hole through Giles with the laser beams that had replaced her eyes. It wouldn't do for him to stir up a hornet’s nest.

Buffy silently raged at Giles, saying nothing, during the introductions. As of today, she was through with him. This was an act of aggression. If he wanted aggression, war, she could give him war. He brought Hunters, to her home, unannounced. No, not unannounced, that denoted a prior invitation. This, was a purposeful ambush. It didn’t take a genius to understand what was going on here and Spike, God bless him for it, was trying to deescalate the impending blow up. Giles, Mal, and Simon had gone behind her back, again, to cut her out in attempt to control the conversation.

‘This, is the last straw. What’s it going to take for Giles to get on board?' she raged. ‘Angel better hurry, before I do something, I’m going to regret. I don’t have to stay here. This is a big planet, ‘Verse, actually. I can go any damn where I want.’ 

Reaching for calm, she inhaled, missed her mark entirely due to realization she had no idea how long these Hunters had been reanimated. She ground out in a barely civil tone that could in no way be confused as an invitation, ‘Everyone, take a seat.’ Once settled, she began to casually pivot in front of the sofa. Using a tone sharp enough to cut steel she turned her attention to Mal, and blistered his ears, ‘I have to say I'm, surprised to see these folks awake and at my house.’

‘Well, we ugh, we thought it might be a good idea for the fellas here to have a bit of a heads up before we tossed them into the pool.’ Mal explained sheepishly, gesturing at Sam and Dean.

‘Uh huh. And, who proposed this plan?’ she asked, leveling her livid gaze on Giles.

‘It was my idea.’ Giles said, taking responsibility.

‘Why am I not surprised?’ she said, hotly, not looking away from him.

Giles began to speak, but she cut him off, ‘That was rhetorical. You're well aware they already know about Spike and Angel.’ She snapped.

‘Yes…well,’ he stammered, realizing he was dealing with an unreasonably angry Slayer.

The doorbell rang.

‘Come in…’ she called, instead of going to the door.

Angel and Faith strode into the room. The Hunters became visibly uneasy.

‘So, what’s this?’ Faith asked, confrontationally. ‘We’ve been up for hours waiting to do this thing. What? You don’t trust us or something?’ She accused.

‘Yeah,’ Dean swaggered up from the sofa, ‘Something just like that.’

Faith sized Dean up. ‘You wanna go big boy? Fine by me, let’s head on outside. There isn’t anyone here who’s gonna stop us.’ She challenged the room.

Jody and Sam stood up. Faith and Angel looked them up and down.

‘Damn, boy.’ Faith said taking in Sam, ‘My mistake. You’re the big one.’ She smiled comically at Angel and elbowed him perversely, ‘You know what they say about the big ones.’

Angel smiled a real smile. He was so excited he was about to bust. He needed to hit something.

‘Yep.’ Was his only reply.

‘Alright now Faith, that’s enough.’ Giles said, getting to his feet and interrupting the standoff.

‘No, Giles.’ Buffy countered, hotly. ‘You don’t get to start something, then decide when it’s enough. Maybe you wanna sit down and be quiet, before you find out just exactly how far it is you can push me without repercussions.’ She was standing between the brothers and Angel and Faith when she said, 'Sit. Down.' Direction the order to the brother, she didn't wait to see if they complied, she spun on her heel toward Mal, then bit out, ‘You might want to explain what’s going on here. Didn’t we just have this conversation last week?

‘What’s going on here…’ Dean barged in, with an attempt to take control, but didn’t get to finish.

‘I didn’t ask you.’ Buffy rounded on him snapping her fingers, then pointing at Mal, ‘I asked him.’

Faith stomped over to stand directly behind Buffy, arms crossed, Angel followed.

Spike, stayed right where he was. He knew his Slayer.

‘Well…’ Dean stammered, trying again, unable to get out anything else.

‘You will zip it, or I will zip it for you.’ She said with another snap of her fingers. She conveyed the commands with deadly serious calm. No bluff. 'Now, sit.' She gritted.

Dean hesitated only a fraction of a second before sitting without another word.

His lips were pursed, but by some miracle of self-preservation, he kept his mouth shut instead of telling the Slayer to make him. He did huff in protest, roll his shoulders and consider the odds.

‘Two Vampires, two Vampire Slayers, against the three of them.’ He didn’t like the odds. Making up his mind, he sat back and stayed put. Sam and Jody, waiting on his decision, gawked incredulously.

Mal took this as the signal to start explaining again. ‘It’s just like I said. Giles came to me with his concerns and I agreed with them. We thought it would be…’

‘You thought…the three of you?' She bit out, pointing at Giles, Simon, and Mal each in turn. She wanted Giles to understand what he’d done and drove her point home. ‘Captain, I am reminding you yet again, that you have an agreement with me about these people.' she said, gesturing at everyone in the room who wasn't Mal or Simon. 'You don't have an agreement with Giles. If you want to renegotiate our agreement, fine, but you don’t get to change things up, without talking to me about it first.’ She commanded, making her point by throwing his words back at him.

Zoe and Jayne stepped into the room. ‘She’s right, Sir.’ Zoe offered, stoically.

Buffy threw her hands into the air, ‘Anyone else coming to visit today?’

‘You're right. I should've talked to you about it first.’ Mal agreed. ‘However, I did tell you to get this matter cleared up with your people. I was unaware of all the details here. All of this was already in motion. I thought you knew until I knew you didn’t know…’ he trailed off at Zoe’s expression.

Zoe lifted a perfectly shaped brow at the Captain, understanding what this was all about. He never capitulated to anything unless there wasn't an alternative and that only happened after someone was bleeding. Buffy hadn’t ‘talked’ to him when she stormed into The Kitchen, she let her anger get the better of her, then just like now. The Captain, was teaching her a lesson about leadership. One she wouldn’t forget. There would be a hell of a lot of mop up after this, but she would learn before it was over ‘approach’ was everything.

‘It won’t happen again.’ He added.

Buffy noticed that he didn’t apologize.

‘Great, now if the general pissing contest is over, does someone wanna catch me up? Zoe and Jayne, please sit down.’ She offered pointing to an empty sofa.

Going to stand with Spike, he ran a finger over the back of her arm, letting her know he was with her. She was vibrating with anger. It would be a while before she would calm down. Giles undermined her authority with his idiocy once again, clouding the trust she might have gained by casting doubt on Spike and Angel, therefore casting doubt on her judgement. This was not over between them by a long shot. For now, she had to try to salvage this disaster. Taking a breath, she pushed hard at the rage bubbling inside her. Losing her temper had only served to solidify any negative picture already residing with the three new community members. Her work was cut out for her if she wanted to correct it.

She listened as Simon began to fill her in.

The Winchester’s and Jody had been awake for a week before Community Dinner. Since then, the ‘reality that was Miranda’ as well as a ‘picture’ of who Buffy and those around were, had been conveyed in its fullness.

‘And, you didn’t feel like I should be part of that?’ she challenged, ‘Because Mal was.’

‘It’s his planet.’ Dean countered.

‘Maybe so, but he put me…’ she began.

‘Just stop right there.’ Sam said, ‘I understand why you’re upset, but we don’t belong to you and neither does anyone else in a tube. You might not like that…’

It was Buffy’s turn to interrupt, ‘I never said you belonged to me. I was going to say, that ‘he’ made it my responsibility, to answer for you. That’s our agreement. It doesn’t matter if you ‘think’ you do or don’t belong to me. If you screw up, I have to answer for it. That’s the agreement. That’s the only way we get to stay here. Correct?’ she finished, levelly at Mal.

Zoe couldn’t help but be impressed.

‘As you say.’ Mal said, with a dip of the head.

At that, Buffy twisted to Giles, holding his eyes with hers, challenging him. He didn’t respond.

‘That, makes me, the Law.’ She finished. ‘If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to take yourself off planet, to live your life the way you see fit, but if you stay here, it’s me and then him. She finished, gesturing at herself and then Mal. She wasn’t just talking to Sam. She was talking to Giles too.

Mal sniffed to repress the smile that itched his lips. Zoe on the other hand couldn’t repress hers.

‘If these guys step out of line even an inch.’ She promised herself, narrowing her eyes at Giles.

Angel considered that Buffy had killed him once, been pretty angry with him too and he had never seen her like this. It took him until now to understand why she was so furious. It was about a fair chance for Spike and he guessed him. Giles was letting his dislike for Spike, cloud his judgement. Understanding dawned, ‘Is there something we can do to make you feel more at ease?’ he asked, hoping to clear the air, or set her at ease. Help in some way.

Spike, taking a page from Buffy’s book, didn’t allow the question. ‘No, Gramps. They're just going to have to trust us. Not jumping through any hoops. It’s just like she said, they’re welcome to go elsewhere whenever they want.’

After that, they simply talked like normal people.

***

Downstairs, finally in his own apartment, Dean sat at his dinning room table, having some kind of vegetable salad concoction that tasted terrible. He was hungry and there wasn’t a Burger Barn anywhere close, so he swallowed and tried not to use his taste buds while replaying the mornings conversation. He wasn’t a hundred percent yet, but he decided not to burn the building down.

‘For now.’

There was more to learn over the next weeks, but he was feeling better about living in the same building as a Vampire. Spike actually allayed a portion of his fear with the assertation he and Sam, would just have to ‘trust’ them. Then again later, by not only making a snack for everyone to share, but actually eating it. That, combined with the way he deferred to Buffy, allowing her to lead and seeming to be comfortable with his supporting role was more convincing than not.

‘It’s an interesting dynamic between them.’ He thought, picking green stuff out of his teeth.

Buffy cooled off when she began talking about her friends. She called them the ‘Scoobs’ because they all worked together to solve ‘cases.’ The Watcher told them about all of the creatures in the Warehouse tubes and it was another sign of good faith Buffy had told about them as well. Including her sister Dawn. Not only that, she had gone on to tell stories about them. Angel and Faith joined in and Spike told them about the time Angel was turned into a puppet, which had them rolling. Jody reciprocated with stories about the girls and Mal talked about his ‘crew.’ Sam talked about Bobby and Dean talked about Cas and it felt good to remember.

On Earth, they would've ordered a pizza and been on their fourth pitcher of beer by the time they got to the puppet story. Once the snack was completely gone, they’d been at it over five hours. With the food gone and everyone talked out, the visit was over and the ‘party’ broke up.

As they were leaving, Spike followed them into the hallway. The door to the penthouse no more than clicked shut and Buffy laid into Giles. All nine of them crowded into the elevator, anxious to escape. As the doors slid shut the volume reached piercing levels that had each of them wincing.

‘B's pretty pissed.’ Faith stated the obvious.

‘Yep.’ Angel concurred, almost feeling sorry for Giles.


	26. Twenty-Six

**Twenty-Six**

Evening: Sam and Dean’s Apartment

‘Look, all I'm saying is maybe the watcher has issues that don’t really have anything to do with Vampires. He didn’t seem to be all that concerned about the other one, the big one, ugh…Angel. He's living with a Slayer too and that didn't seem to bother him. It’s all the same thing, criteria...or whatever. Right? Only...he's only complaining about Spike.’ Dean argued, grasping for the words he wanted and getting half of them wrong.

Now, he was waiting for a response to his argument from Sam. He didn’t get one. So, he went on.

‘I think, we gotta start asking ourselves what his motivation is, because I’m not buying that it’s a Vampire issue anymore. Especially after what we saw. I mean, the dude ate enough vegetables and dip to feed a horse, Sam! And…did you notice he’s not cold or even creepy, with the smelling and the stalking?’ Dean added. ‘She told us all about these two years ago. Remember? They both have souls, they kill demons, and they don’t bite or feed off of humans.’

‘That we know of.’ Jody interjected.

Sam gestured at Jody using ‘What she said’ body language.

‘Fine, that we know of.’ Dean allowed, in his loud, gruff, annoyed voice that filled the room, then said, ‘Sam, I don’t understand. Usually, you’re the one telling me not to be so uptight about stuff.’ 

Sam replied, ‘Maybe I'm a little concerned because you have a history of giving Vampires a pass… On occasion. Look how that turned out.’

‘Yeah…Sam, look how that turned out. You're here and we got Bobby back, for a while.’ Dean said, getting pissed.

‘Okay, easy guys.’ Jody moderated. ‘Maybe, we should just get some sleep. We’ve had a long day and we've got a planet to explore tomorrow. And… seriously, I can’t… we're on a different planet and you guys are arguing about two Vampires who are in the same predicament as you. Our heads are not in the right place guys.’ she said, imploring them to settle down.

No one said anything for a tick and let her words sink in.

‘Jody’s right. We have a lot to think about, but honestly, I’ve lived in hell and been possessed by Satan. This really isn’t such a big deal in comparison. We’ve had to live in alternate dimensions and this isn’t the first time we’ve had to deal with time travel issues. Well, I guess technically this isn't time travel, but it doesn't really matter, does it. We're five hundred years in the future, does it matter to anyone how we got here? We're here and we're not going back, presumably. We're going to have to make the best of it. At least Jody has the girls down there in tubes and Cas is down there as well. It could be a lot worse.’ Sam said, putting a good spin on it. 

Silence…

Mom and Jack weren't on that list of people. It hurt. They just let the silence be while they worked through it for a minute. Sam had been as careful as he knew how to be while he talked. 

They stayed quiet for as long as Dean could take it, then he exclaimed, ‘Look at this place! Does this TV work?’

Sam’s answer was amused, ‘Captain Reynolds said it would once they figured out how to hook the building up to the Cortex. In Internet years or, I guess Cortex years the tech is ancient. It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out and there is bound to be a manual somewhere.’

Dean merely blinked at his brother, ‘Nerd.’

‘I'm going to bed.’ Jody laughed. Getting up to leave she teased, ‘I'm right across the hall if either of you have a nightmare and need me.’ Both men got up to hug her good night. She squeezed them hard, then left.

Behind her Dean said, ‘First door on the right is my room!’ making a run for it.

As the door to the apartment closed, the walls rumbled with the bumps and bangs of two rather large, grown men wrestling each other for what was actually a coat closet. The ‘room’ Dean was trying to claim was further down the hall. Going the ten steps across the hall, she opened the door to her own place and called, ‘Lights.’ The apartment was nice, but it wasn’t very homey. Buffy had tried and done a fair job for not knowing her. When the girls came home, then they would personalize it. Until then, she didn’t know what she was going to do here every day. Her whole life was being a small-town Sheriff and Hunting the occasional monster that came through town. She didn’t have a job or a purpose. Of course, the girls would need her and God knew that she was going to need them, but eventually they'd find out where they fit, in this new life.

'The boys will need you now and again as well…' she thought absently, trundling down the hall to the Master bedroom. Climbing under the covers fully dressed, she was asleep in minutes.

*******

Evening: Mal and Inara’s

‘I warned you…’ Inara chastised Mal.

‘The girl is strong willed, that’s for sure.’ He said.

‘Mal, she’s not a girl, she’s a woman.’ Inara corrected.

‘Fine, she’s a strong-willed woman. I went along with it, mostly because I wanted to see how it would play out and she had a lesson to learn that she could only teach herself. She’s not just strong-will ‘Nara, she considered what happened tantamount to mutiny. And truth told, after tonight, I’m not worried about the Vampires anymore, I’m worried about the Librarian. He’s a dissenter and it ain’t the first time. It was too easy for him, like he didn’t have a single qualm about it. And the other Slayer, she is ready to throw down at a moment's notice. She reminds me of Zoe. Not as poised, mind you, but she’s loyal. She just came to it though.’ he said, thoughtfully.

After a beat, he told Inara the history between the two Slayers and the two Vampires, then said, ‘So, you can see where my thoughts are. This slip of a girl has two Vampires and a Slayer that used to hate her, eating out of the palm of her hand. I…trust her and I trust her folks. All of 'em even the Librarian. He's a troublemaker, but he falls in line when the going gets tough. I feel like no matter what ever happens, they would stand with us. She’s got spunk and honor and she don’t take no shi…ugh, crap.’ He explained. 

‘You can say shit, Mal.’ Inara chuckled.

‘I know...’ He replied, his tone self-conscious.

Inara turned out the light on her side of the bed and rolled to Mal, backing up to him. Spooning in, she put her cold feet on top of his warm ones. Mal rubbed them vigorously with his own to help get them warm. Her being cold all of the time was a side effect of the new medicine the Doc had her taking. He made a mental note to get a heating pad for when he couldn’t be home to warm her feet for her.

‘I had lunch with Kaylee today. She said the other farm would be ready to go by the time there were enough people to work it. She also said she came across a huge stash of seeds. There were watermelon seeds in it.’

‘Really?’ Mal asked hopefully.

‘I wouldn’t lie to you about watermelon, Mal.’ Inara laughed.

Mal loved watermelon! 

*******

Evening: Simon and Kaylee’s

‘Oh! My gosh, Simon! That was a terrible thing to do!’ Kaylee exclaimed.

‘I know that…now!’ he admitted.

‘Is everything…I mean, was there a fight?’ she asked, concern lacing her tone.

‘No, well, not a physical fight. I mean, I was terrified the whole time and I barely spoke a word. She basically…challenged Mal and she told Giles and Dean to sit down and shut up. I swear to you, everyone did exactly what she told them to do. It was…something to see. I’m not sure if they were afraid of her or if they knew they really messed up. Either way, I'm never going to do anything like that again. I'm going straight to her, if that kind of situation ever comes up again. Do you remember a long time ago how you told me River really scared you at Niska’s? This was like that. I believe absolutely, if Dean had even flinched, I'd be over at the lab right now, setting broken bones and sewing stitches. The really disturbing part was Spike. He never showed the slightest bit of worry. Just sat there calmly…like he was bored. Like they had it all under control.’ Simon fidgeted. 

Kaylee handed him the glass of water he asked for and he took a big drink.

‘Don’t ever do anything to cross Spike and… I don’t want you alone with him, ever. He laughed, like he was having fun.’ Simon confided.

‘Surely not!’ Kaylee exclaimed, scandalized.

‘He did. Stay away from the other one too. He just stood there motionless behind Faith and glowered. And then, the most bizarre part of it all…my hand on Grey’s Anatomy, they all sat down and chatted like none of it had ever happened. I'm having serious reservations about waking the rest of these… ‘people’ up. They outnumber us by about thirty to one, Kaylee.

‘Yeah…but, Simon, you have to remember that only two of them are Vampires, who’ve been nothing but nice to us. And this wouldn’t have even happened if Mr. Giles hadn’t done what he did. I mean, Buffy is mad because of exactly what has happened. You don’t trust them now and neither does those two brothers or that Sheriff. Mr. Giles cast doubt on them when they're in a new place with new people and no good can come out of that. Buffy was countin on a fresh start for them. See? Mr. Giles has ruined that. And besides, River would've done told you if there was anything to fear from them by now.’ Kaylee explained, convincingly. 

Simon considered his wife’s words. She was usually right when it came to people. And River.

‘That’s… true.’ He allowed.

‘Time will tell, but I don’t think we have to worry about them. Time for bed?’ she asked.

Simon nodded.


	27. Twenty-Seven

**Twenty-Seven**

Zoe dropped Jayne off after the ambush at Buffy's that morning, saying ‘See you soon,’ then doubled back to talk to Angel and Faith alone. She hoped she could help smooth things over between Angel and the Captain with some time.

‘That was a bad scene.’ She recollected. 

Knowing without having to be told, what Mal’s motivation was, lessons in leadership wasn’t the only thing happening. The testing of the waters, for reactions and acumen was almost a disaster and she didn't think anyone, anticipated that reaction from the Slayer. With the exception Mr. Giles, that is. Somewhere in all of that Mr. Giles ‘wanted’ everyone to see that reaction and she wasn't sure why. They were obviously being manipulated; she just didn't know to what end.

Zoe hoped her new acquaintance with Angel, but provide the answers she was looking for. Aside from that, the budding friendship was good for her. She liked him. He was quiet, stayed to himself, and he… ‘understood’ things. ‘Okay, fine.’ she admitted, ‘It isn't a 'budding' friendship.’ They were friends. They weren’t 'that kind' of friends. Just friends.

Zoe didn’t begrudge Mal the time he spent with Inara; it was just the opposite. She wanted the Captain with Inara every second he could be with her, but she missed her friend more than she expected. This situation, the absence of her friend, couldn’t be any other way. Inara would be gone someday, way too soon. When it happened, it would be terrible and unbearable, and she would be there for him, same as he was for her.

‘Just like always.’ She vowed.

During the war, she and the Captain propped each other up when it was brutal. He kept her alive and saved her life more than once. She would walk through hell with the Captain if he asked her too and not think twice about it. After Wash died, he was her strength and lately, she was lost without her friend to lean on. It was hard, sometimes, for her to see him and Inara together, because they were so happy. It wasn’t jealousy, she was truly happy for them. She was happy for him. It was just, the light they had between them was so bright, it was hard to look at. It made her miss Wash even more and she was so lonely for him. Lonely for the way he'd look at her.

‘Like I was everything.’ she remembered.

Wash wanted Hobie so much. She had just started to believe there was good in the 'Verse again. Then they took him from her. Zoe stayed planet side with Hobie as long as she could, but she wasn’t used to being on the ground. Zoe, being vessel born, couldn’t stay on the ground for long, it unsettled her. It was extra difficult now, because Miranda reminded her about everything Wash was missing. He would love it here, on Miranda, with her and Hobie. They would have struggled over this in their marriage, but their love for each other would've won out in the end. As it was now, she stayed on the ground as long as she could and then she had to get herself into the black. She was better in the black, it was normal. While she was out there, it was just the two of them and he wasn’t missing.

The excuses she used to take these trips always consisted of getting supplies that weren't 'readily available' on Miranda. Hard to justify, when everything was readily available on Miranda. Except the things that weren’t. Like, information or meat and cheese. Even with Mal patrolling The Signal day and night, there was never enough information to really keep them safe. The Signal provided the information the Alliance wanted you to have. A dive bar on Persephone, provided the information you needed. So, she used it as her number one excuse when she couldn’t take the stillness any longer. Then, she would load up, grab Jayne and go ‘smuggling.’

When she couldn’t leave and the figurative walls began to close in on her, she would jump into an abandoned cruiser and head out into one of the thousands of empty neighborhoods. Once there, she would scream her guts out. Scream until she fell into an exhausted heap on the ground. Which, ironically, was how she and Angel become acquaintances. Out to do a little 'screaming' of his own, he heard her. When he found her lying on the ground sobbing, he assumed she was hurt and came to help her. She took a swing at him for his trouble and he apologized, backing off and leaving her alone. She felt guilty about it the next and went to see him. Mostly, she didn’t want him to tell anyone what he saw.

"Don't worry about it.” He assured her casually, “I understand. I was out there doing the same thing." Angel admitted.

In the spirit of ‘getting to know her,’ he explained the difficulty he was having adjusting to his ‘new life’ and how in the past, he would just go out and kill demons and beat up criminals to deal with things he couldn't control. No longer having that physical release for his pent-up frustration taxed his peace of mind, sending him out most nights to run it off, scream it off or whatever it took to get it out of his system.

"That was how I found you. In case you thought, I was following you. Or, something." He clarified.

Zoe talked to him. Surprising herself, she opened up and told him about...everything.

For the last six weeks she was able to stay planet side. Whenever she began feeling restless, smothered, stifled, they would sneak off and spar. He let her beat the crap out of him. It was extremely therapeutic for her. But only her. It was pretty one sided. Angel asked about the Reavers during one of their talks and while she explained, she could see the desire to 'hunt,' burn like a blazing fire in him.

After meeting Faith and seeing the caged fear in her eyes, Zoe knew right off they were kindred. Faith was an army brat. During their first ‘real’ conversation the idea came to her. After seeing Faith and Angel were together, it cemented itself. They were going Reaver hunting. They would do a little smuggling as well, but Reaver hunting was the purpose of the trip. Talking it over with the Captain, she spent a few days hunting up just the right transport. One small enough for her to handle alone, but big enough for speed and of course, one she hadn’t used yet. Finding one fairly close by she fit it out, then spent the afternoon over at the Citizens Bureau making new Ident-Cards for all of them, registering the ship to herself, and getting it in the system. With everything ready, all she needed was Angel and Faith.

They jumped at the chance to go ‘reaving’ and packed a bag almost before she could finish telling them what she wanted to do. Jayne packed an arsenal that took nearly 45 minutes to load and then they were off being pirates.

That was been two weeks ago.

While traveling Zoe and Jayne taught the quick and dirty basics of smuggling, gun handling, since they fought mostly hand to hand combat, gotten rip roaring drunk together and got into one hell of a bar fight that almost landed them in detention.

Faith could hustle serious pool!

The trip was exactly what they needed!

They were back in time for Community Dinner with information, of both kinds, and meat and cheese to boot. That, in a very real sense, was going to make them heroes.

Zoe was happy, if not content, for the first time in a really long time. So much so, she put off going to see the Captain and went to see Hobie first.

Her son, noticing she was truly happy to see him, hugged her tight saying, ‘I love you, Mom.’

Something he’d been shy of doing lately.

‘When did he get so big?’ she wondered, as he squeezed her neck.


	28. Twenty-Eight

**Twenty-Eight**

‘Honestly, they could be anywhere, Buffy.’ Giles offered.

Spike made a passable lunch, that wasn't protein spread over flat bread and he wanted to eat it. Instead, it was this question demanding an answer ‘again’ this week. With a sigh he offered, 'It isn’t unheard of, you know. Not for either one of them. Especially, the Ponce. He disappears without a moment’s notice when he’s brooding.’ hoping that would be the end to it

'Wha... So, they get to take off? I'm unhappy, I didn't take off without a word!' She argued.

Spike glowered at her for the comment, but she was oblivious.

‘The purpose of meeting is to discuss the next round of reanimation. Now, it’s on hold.’ She complained further.

Giles ignored her ranting to eat his lunch. 

Buffy grumbled, recalling the last week. ‘She called Angel a few days ago to let both him and Faith know they were going to have this meeting, but he didn’t answer. When she started looking for him, she realized both he and Faith were ‘missing.’ Eventually, she called to let the Captain know they were missing, but he didn't answer either. Which seemed odd to her because he took her calls the week before while she sat in the ‘Captain’s Seat,’ helping Sam work the 'bugs' out of the Cortex.’

The Captain’s Seat, was what she called the room where Mal spent most of his day ‘monitoring’ something he called ‘The Signal’ and ‘presumably’ teaching Sam about it. The Signal brought the Cortex and the Cortex ran the phone, but wasn’t the phone itself. It was very confusing, because they didn’t call the phone a phone, they called it a Wave and it was actually a face phone. That, wasn’t a phone. It was like a TV that worked both ways and you could see the person you were talking to. See?

Sam imparted a particularly funny story to her about the way he eventually took the much handled, much begrimed, ‘Signal manual’ the Captain used to ‘teach’ him from. He read it from cover to cover, in the space of an afternoon. Soon after that, Sam became the teacher and the Captain learned all kinds of things about the Cortex and the Signal. That was how they had phone’s now. Well, face phones, that they actually called ‘Wave’s.’

There was also something about satellites and how to reprogram them not to stream anything out-going, only in-coming so anyone passing by like Reavers or Alliance or regular citizens couldn’t ‘hear’ us. Like we were ‘cloaked’ or something. So, the day after Sam got the satellite to work there were phones…ugh, that is ‘Waves,’ and he got the TV to work too! Everyone could watch on the TV they wanted, but for ‘safety’ no one was allowed to access the Cortex unless they were in the Signal room. Anyway, she didn’t really know how any of it worked and didn't care, just so long as she could use it.

And she could, so she did.

Most days during lunch she and Sam would 'Facetime' (that's what Sam called it) each other and talk about their day so far. The last time she 'Facetimed' him, he told her Kaylee brought Dean and Spike down to the farm early in the day and quickly gave Dean the tour he asked for after finding out Kaylee was an engine freak same as him. Which made absolutely no sense to anyone but Dean and Kaylee.

Spike and Dean gravitated toward each other over naturally, sharing a love for music and killing things. Somehow, they didn’t end up in arguments about music the way Spike and Giles did, even when Giles was present. As far as Buffy was concerned, it did Giles a world of good to see Spike in a casual setting without someone treating him like a pariah and she didn’t begrudge Spike the time or friendship, endorsing it wholeheartedly. She even managed to get the laundry done. 

Jody spent most of her time with Giles working on ‘population solutions.’ Several in-depth conversations about what to do with approximately 800 teenage girls needing guidance and love as well as discipline and understanding, had so far created a ‘rough draft’ of what life should look like by time to reanimate them. Jody brought up things that hadn’t occurred to anyone and Faith made very good points based on her own experiences. No brainers that got lost in the massive scale of the other problems they faced.

None of this was the point though.

The point was, this week Angel and Faith were missing and Captain Reynolds was avoiding her.

She ate lunch in silence wracking her brain, for where they may have gone. Coming up with nothing, she determined not to let the day go to waste. Pushing aside her annoyance, she cleared the dishes away so they could get down to business. While she rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher there was a knock at the door. Come in, both she and Spike shouted across the expansive Penthouse, causing both Giles and Jody to jump.

Wiping the excess water off the counter, she dried her hands and Sam and Dean emerged in kitchen. Buffy threw the dish towel down on the counter and leveled an irritated stare at Sam, who shuffled his feet nervously and looked at the floor to avoid her gaze.

'He doesn't know where they are toots. So, just, settle down.' Dean grumbled, haltingly.

Narrowing her eyes at Dean, she had half a mind to give him a piece of her mind.

Noting that ‘her majesty’ was about to waste his time, Dean dismissed her with a wave of his hand and ignored her completely. Sam looked sheepish while Dean offered his fist to Spike, who dutifully ‘bumped’ it. Noisily dragging a chair over the bamboo flooring, he fell into it and stretched out rudely, growling, ‘Let’s get this show on the road.’

Buffy watched this display from the kitchen, sucked her teeth and let this go for now.

‘Soon.’ She sighed to herself, ‘There has to be an understanding about certain things, soon.’

Spike, able to feel her disquiet, turned to her and smiled softly. Beckoning her with a tilt of his head, she gave in further and went to sit with him. Staying quiet, she listened, waited, and considered while Jody, apparently, moderated the discussion. As far as Buffy was concerned, she wasn’t doing a very good job of it, but no one wanted to ‘hear’ from her today. So, she stayed quiet and didn’t intervene until things got heated.

Scraping her chair over the floor, it made a horrible screeching noise, she pushed away from the table and began to leave the room. Before she could, Jody called, ‘Where are you going?’

Buffy stopped and pointed to herself, ‘Who? Me?’

‘Yes, you princess. Meetings not over…’ Dean grouched.

‘Oh. No one want’s my input. Or presence. Or, well, anything really. I think I’ll soak in the tub. Appropriate for a princess.’ She turned to leave, but Spike was there in an instant imploring her to stay. ‘No. It’s fine. Dean’s got this.’

‘Fine…’ Dean complained, ‘Please, tell us what you think.’

‘Oh, no. This isn’t a discussion for princess’.’ Buffy insisted. ‘Only men, who clearly know it all and have a handle on ‘this stuff’ should be the decision makers. Clearly.’

‘Apologize so we can get on with it.’ Sam said, shooting an apologetic look in Buffy’s direction.

‘What? No…she’s acting like a princess now. No.’ Dean insisted.

Buffy made to leave again, but Spike held her fast, smirking at Dean. ‘Come on, Mate. Suck it up.’

‘Fine! I’m sorry. Please, stay and tell us what you think.’ Dean spit in irritation.

Buffy smiled and came back to the table, ‘I think that there are enough of us now, if Angel and Faith ever come back, that we can wake all of ‘our’ people at once. There's no need to wait any longer.’ she said.

‘Not, Illyria.’ Spike interjected.

‘Correct. Not Illyria. Or Dawn. Or Riley and his crew as well.’ She added.

Spiked rolled his eyes at that. He didn't have a problem with leaving Illyria in her tube, or Riley and his people, it was leaving Dawn that he objected to. 

‘You think so?’ Giles asked.

‘Yeah. I think we’ve been over thinking it a little.’ She said.

‘That holds true for the Nibblet as well.’ Spike prodded.

‘Spike…’ she huffed out jerking around to glare at him.

He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

‘I just want to wait until we're all here and doing as well as can be expected, so that we can be there for her. I'm going to need help with her. We're barely hanging on ourselves someday.’ She explained to the others, thinking ‘I need more eyes. I can’t keep an eye on everything myself all the time! Where is Angel and Faith? Gah! It’s just like her to bail when there is work to do!’ she shifted irritably. 

‘You don’t give the ‘bit enough credit, big sis. She was a trooper while you were dead. Much better than me.’ Spike confided.

‘Be that as it may, it’s still my call.’ She reiterated.

The doorbell rang. They both got up to answer it.

‘I’ve got it.’ He insisted, as irritable as she was now.

Buffy sat down and pulled an exasperated hand through her too long hair. She really needed a haircut. Simon came in with Spike trailing after him.

‘Doc’s here.’ He announced.

‘As if I can’t see that for myself.’ She grouched.

Taking in the scene, Simon said awkwardly, ‘I wanted to let you know Angel and Faith are back.’

Shooting to her feet Buffy peppered him, ‘They are? When did they get back? Where were they?

‘I…didn’t talk to them, I just saw them.’ He answered.

‘Thank you, Simon! I appreciated it.’ She said, sailing past him to retrieve her keys.

‘Doc, why didn’t you just call?’ Sam asked.

‘The Wave box at the lab isn’t working.’ Simon answered.

‘Well, I'll come with you and see if I can fix it.’ Sam offered, knowing without having to be told the meeting was over.

Giles and Jody were already started toward the door, ‘Yes, let’s see if we can get a few things done and meet back here in a few hours when Angel and Faith can join us. We can all go to Community Dinner from here?’ he finished, with a questioning glance around.

Everyone agreed and headed out.

Buffy, returning with her keys stayed behind to make up with Spike.

‘I’m sorry.’ They both said at the same time.

‘I have my reasons.’ She said.

‘I know. Want to share them?’ he prompted.

‘Not right now…?’ she asked, tentatively.

He nodded his disappointment. She saw it and laid a serious kiss on him.

‘It’s not like that.’ She promised, then added, 'I still have work to do after I yell at them. I have to meet with Captain Reynolds as well and tell him what we've decided.'

Spike wasn’t convinced by her explanation so she laid another scorching kiss on him.

He kissed her back finally.

After a minute he set her away from him. ‘Go on. I'll see you in a while, Luv.'


	29. Twenty-Nine

Twenty-Nine

Angel emerged from his shower to pounding on his front door. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he used another to scrub at his wet hair and he made his way through the basement apartment. After the third time he woke up to find River standing over his bed watching him sleep, he had taken to locking the door with the combination pad. With a suspicion it was River pounding on the door now, he yanked it open to yell at her that Faith was sleeping, but the admonishment died on his lips. Instead, he muttered, ‘Different girl.’ and clutched the extra towel over his naked chest.

Buffy’s mouth fished open, then closed. ‘Uh…’ she choked, trying again, ‘Umm.’ Nothing came out. Pulling her mouth into a tight grimace, she glanced down away from his naked chest to order her thoughts.

Big mistake.

‘Oh! Oh, God! His…um, the bulge.’ Her whirling thoughts screamed at her.

All of Angel was pressing against the wet towel wrapped around his waist.

‘It’s leaving nothing to the imagination …’ she noted against her will. 

Angel shifted his hips and it only made it worse.

She shouldn’t look anymore.

Closing her eyes, she shook her head, trying to purge the image burned onto her retinas.

It wasn’t working.

Jerking her eyes to his, thinking it the only safe place for her to look, she discovered she was wrong. Deep brown Angel eyes penetrated her bright green ones, practically to her core.

‘Penetrate? Really? You couldn’t think of another word?’ she screeched at herself, ‘How certain you were about your ‘feelings’ concerning him. Could you focus!’

Unbidden, Selfish chimed in, ‘Ugh, first of all, you’re human and he’s gorgeous and wet and naked. You don’t happen to be dead at the moment. This reaction is perfectly normal if you think about it.’

To Selfish she replied, ‘No one asked you.’

Selfish poked back, ‘Just…look…at…him…or, oh…yeah, that too.’

Angel, amused, watched the battle Buffy waged with herself until she checked in, turning crimson with embarrassment. Lifting an amused brow at her effectively broke the spell ‘his state of being’ cast on her. Apparently disgusted with herself, she threw her hands in the air. Her outward irritation amused him further and he lowered the towel revealing his chest to her again.

‘Where…have you been?’ She stammered, ignoring his chest.

‘Hello to you too.’ He said, ignoring her question.

‘Hi. Where?’ she clipped, maintaining eye contact through sheer force of will.

Faith came to the door. ‘Why all the noise?’ she asked tiredly.

At least she was fully dressed, Buffy noted unamused.

‘Where, have you been? I've been worried sick about you two!’ She yelled to cover her embarrassment, shock, and…something else she absolutely wasn't going to acknowledge.

‘We were with Zoe. Didn’t anyone tell you?’ Faith answered, sleepily. 

‘NO!’ Buffy shouted.

Angel was standing in his front door practically naked and Faith was standing there barely dressed like it wasn’t even a big deal. ‘She looks like she just rolled out of the bed.’ Buffy didn’t know why, but she really hated it. She hated it a lot and there were things that she was going to have to get figured out...immediately.’ Angel mumbled something she wasn’t paying attention to while she stood stared in bewilderment. ‘You need to get out of here!' She chastised. So, turning to leave she said, ‘Thanks, a lot.’ Instead of leaving she waited a beat contemplating whether or not to ask what was going on between the two of them. This, she realized in time to save herself more embarrassment, would be ridiculous as he was in a towel at the front door and Faith was in skimpy pajamas. She decided on, ‘Gotta go. See you at dinner.’ and hurried away.

‘Buffy!’ he called after her. 

She didn’t stop.

‘What the hell is wrong with you!’ She shrieked at herself.

Thank God, Spike wasn’t with her. Her face was burning.

‘I’m NOT in love with him!’ She assured herself, doubtfully.

However, the reaction she just had to her half-naked, soaking wet, glistening Vampire ex-boyfriend and ‘arch nemesis’ having sex with each other, was screaming at her otherwise. Selfish popped her head out of the mental door Buffy kept her behind to say something, but Buffy shoved the door forcefully shut. This has NOTHING to do with the fact she and Spike were struggling the last few days. So, they argued and he was frustrated with her and she was frustrated with him.

‘Or, was she frustrated with him?’ She questioned, turning Poseidon toward Serenity Township.

Everything was so ‘important’ and ‘urgent.’ She wasn’t used to all of this, ‘input.’ Everyone was sure they knew best. Giles constantly going around behind her. Dean with his constant needling. Angel and Faith disappearing when she needed them for back-up. Spike, well, he was being Spike.

She hadn’t taken the time she needed with him lately. 

'Yeah...that's it exactly.' she agreed.

She was a flustered mess about Angel showing up at the door half naked after having sex with Faith. So, what! It wasn’t any of her business. Her business is at home waiting on her and she should have never left! What the hell was wrong with her anyway? There wasn’t a single doubt in her mind that she wanted to be with Spike. At all. 'So, what...the...hell is wrong with you?' she berated herself. 

Common Sense elbowed Selfish out of the way, ‘You already know ‘what the hell.’

‘I do?’ Buffy asked.

‘Yes, you do. You’re trying to control everything.’ Common Sense supplied.

‘I have to control everything.’ Buffy insisted.

‘You have to delegate.’ Common Sense, offered.

Buffy considered this.

Common Sense continued, ‘The root of the problem, is your self-doubt. You haven’t properly taken control of this situation because you believe it’s too big for you.’ She finished, smartly.

Buffy shrugged, ‘It is.’ She agreed.

‘Then, if you think it’s too big for you, let the others have control.’ Common Sense challenged.

Buffy stopped the scooter, pulling to the side of the road. It took her the space of a breath to turn Poseidon around. The Captain could wait, this couldn’t. Driving faster than she should, she was pulling into the parking lot back at home in under three minutes. Having only been gone ten minutes max, she went straight for Giles to have to have yet another conversation with him. They had been tip toeing around each other since the last time they had it out. Without knocking, she barged in and began complaining. 

‘Ohhhh…oh my god…’ she blurted, hand covering her mouth, too late to conceal her sudden, unannounced appearance. 

Giles and Jody, locked in a seriously hot embrace, sprang apart. Giles turned his back to the door as he was nearly undressed. Jody, clutched her open blouse closed and her mouth dropped open in surprise. She was doing her best to say something…anything, but nothing at all was coming out. Finally, she settled on looking perturbed and pointed the way out. Buffy, thoroughly embarrassed for the second time that day offered nothing and hurriedly left, going straight across the foyer. Opening her own door, still scarlet from hot embarrassment she flushed again to find Angel standing in her living room with Spike.

‘Apologize for what, Mate?’ Spike was saying.

Both Vampires turned to her.

She came to an abrupt halt, door knob in hand. 

‘What are you doing here?’ She demanded, of Angel. 

‘I came to apologize.’ Angel said for the second time in as many minutes.

‘Accepted.’ She barked, ‘See you at dinner.’

Buffy stepped aside, gesturing for him to leave through the still open door.

Angel nodded, regretfully and left.

‘Apologize for what?’ Asked a confused Spike, again.

Buffy swung the front door closed after Angel. Hearing the elevator door close, she stalked to Spike and kissed him. She was all over hands and tongue.

Spike nearly falling for it, dragged his mouth from hers.

‘I thought you had work…’ he said suspiciously.

Ignoring him, not allowing him to finish what he was saying, she pulled him to her, attempting to kiss his lips off again.

Detaching himself from her as if she were sticky, he insisted, ‘What’s happened?’

‘I took the rest of the day off, which is what I should've done earlier instead of leaving the house. I’m sorry, so kiss me. Like you mean it.’ She demanded, rubbing against him.

The image of a wet towel encased bulge and Faith flashed through her mind. Determined to force it away, the image of Giles and Jody replaced it. ‘Oh! Gross!’ she cringed mentally, now pulling herself from Spike. The man was like her father and there he’d been, in the living room, trousers around his ankles and pitching a tent in his boxers! ‘UGH!’ Buffy screeched mentally. She had to do something to scrub the images of the last fifteen minutes from her mind. ‘Let’s go.’ She bossed, dragging Spike to their closet. She needed absolute darkness.

It worked.

'Thank God!' she breathed.

Spike layered himself over this day, scrubbing away the continual uneasiness that plagued her. What she hoped to be a fifteen-minute stress reliever, he turned into a tour de force. Filling her with reassurance, love and confidence.

Running late after falling asleep, she tore through her closet, twisted her hair in a knot and swiped on deodorant. Being late for Community Dinner was frowned on, she discovered, after being strenuously lectured by The Kitchen staff the one and only time she arrived late. If they didn’t leave immediately, she would be late again. 

‘So, are you going to tell me what that was between you and Angel today?’ he asked, nonchalantly. 

‘Don’t start.’ She answered quickly, finishing the last twist of her hair.

‘I’m just wondering what he needed to apologize for.’ He needled.

‘He just made me angry. Taking Faith and disappearing like that. I mean, how do I know that they aren’t going to pull another stunt like that? I mean, we don’t even know where they've been this entire time. What if they just go off like that again?’ she complained.

‘Why do you care so much?’ he asked, digging.

‘Because, what if, I don’t know! What if they get lost?’ she spluttered, indignantly.

‘They aren’t going to get lost.’ he said, as if she were silly.

‘They might.’ she insisted absently, pulling on her shoes.

‘Neither of them are your responsibility, Pet. Besides, Zoe goes with him everywhere. She’s been gone for two weeks as well. They were all together, bet on it.’ He said, pulling her brush through his own hair.

‘Why should I bet on it?’ she asked, curiously. 

‘Because Zoe is back as well. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the two of them all cozy and chatty during Community Dinner! That isn’t very astute of you, Slayer.’ he poked at her.

‘Whatever…’she swatted at him playfully. ‘Kiss me, we gotta go!’

She turned for the door, pulled a frown...and thought, 'no I haven't noticed.


	30. Thirty

**Thirty**

Petaline, a thirty-year-old single mother, had almond shaped, dazzlingly bright green eyes, a square jaw, full lips, a voluptuous body, and she had literally outdone herself for this Community Dinner.

Zoe was back and she brought cheese with her! Not to mention meat and other goodies. Petaline couldn’t believe her luck! Tonight, the newcomers would introduce those two men to everyone. She already saw one from a’ways off and hoped at least one of them was worth a second look. she put on her best dress.

She was wearing her best dress, ‘Just in case. Makes my boobs look amazing.’ She thought distractedly, then she thought, ‘That one’s so tall he’s likely to scrap his head on the door jamb.’

Petaline hoped to catch the attention of at least one of them. Jonah was getting to be a handful and he did need some male influences in his life. What he really needed was a father. Maybe that was getting a little ahead of herself, but the fact remained the boy needed a man in his life. She didn’t want to leave Miranda to find him one. She built a good life for them here and there weren't a lot of opportunities for an ex-whore from the border worlds. Life was never easy for a whore to begin with and it was even worse for an ex-whore. Not everyone got the opportunity to go to Companion Academy. Nandi had companion training, though and when she took Petaline on, she taught her everything she knew. The woman was the mother Petaline never had. She provided Petaline and the others a home and what safety she could. Petaline loved Nandi for it. 

Inara knew Nandi from the Companion Academy. Nandi always said that some just weren’t cut out to be Companions, just like some weren’t cut out to be whores. Nandi and everyone she worked with had fallen in between those two titles. Petaline was with Nandi for five years when Rance Burgess came to town, throwing his weight and money around. Soon he had the whole town eating out of his hand. He owned and controlled almost everything.

Everything except Nandi.

Nandi refused to sell to him and Nandi’s girls refused to work for him. He warned away potential customers and made life hard for them, but Nandi didn’t give in. Rance had unfortunately taken a liking to Petaline the moment he saw her and that’s when the trouble started. Rance busted into Nandi’s place and hauled Petaline away with him. When she was able to get away, she came back pregnant with Jonah.

When Rance found out, he was a nuisance that had to be dealt with. Nandi called Inara and struck a bargain with her for some help. Captain Reynolds showed up a few days later.

Nandi was killed in the confrontation between the Captain and Rance. Petaline was so distraught she killed Rance Burgess herself. It didn’t matter that Rance happened to be Jonah’s father. Rance was a despicable person and she knew he would never stop trying to steal Jonah from her. She shot Rance point blank. 

‘He’d had it coming.’ Petaline told herself. 

Belinda Burgess, a miserable woman and Rance’s wife, wasn’t happy to find herself a widow and without the baby Rance had promised her. She came out to Nandi’s Place to collect her son. For three years Petaline fought off Belinda. Eventually, she had to take Jonah and hide, calling on Captain Reynolds to help once more. The Captain made the offer to take her and whoever else wanted to go back to Miranda with him and the rest was history. Lucy and Johnny decided to come at the last minute. The four of them had been here ever since and were adapted to life on Miranda.

She noticed that Buffy finally arrived. Nearly everyone was seated by the time she shown up. 

‘Food is probably going to be cold before we can get it served.’ Petaline mumbled.

As soon as Buffy and Spike were in their seats the room got quiet. Everyone but the Captain bowed their heads for a moment of silence. The moment of silence was over quickly so they didn’t annoy the Captain. Community Dinner night was fun and noisy but not overly so. Even with the newcomers they managed to keep things pleasant. As usual just before time to clean up and do the dishes, a collaborative effort, the Captain stood up to open the floor for discussion and sharing.

‘Petaline, you outdid yourselves. This meal was delicious!’ he praised. 

The room made sounds of agreement and thanks.

Petaline laughing said, ‘Captain, you say that after every dinner!’

‘That’s because every dinner it’s true!’ He responded. 

‘Thank you!’ She replied, blushing slightly slipped down into her chair. 

‘Also,’ Mal went on, ‘I want to say formally, we’re happy to have Sam, Dean and Jody join us on Miranda. Hope after they get situated, they make the decision to stay with us permanently.’ He said, to the guests of honor. ‘Usually,’ Mal continued, ‘This is the portion of the evening we let anyone who has something to say, have a moment to give it voice. Tonight, I’m asking you to wait until our next Dinner to say it. There’s going to be things happening over the next month you need to be aware of and we’re going to talk about it now. As y’all well know, we got a warehouse full of folks down the road. We've hard pressed to find a solution for what to do with them. After a lot of worry and discussion we finally have a plan. Now, Buffy and Giles are going to tell you what it is, as well as, fill you in on the situation in its entirety. Now, I know some of you are going to have questions, misgivings, hell you may even be mad. I'm going to ask you for trust and to hold your questions until the end. I promise we’re going to do our level best for everyone. So far, y’all have accepted and welcomed the newcomers. I have to say thank you for it. I'm encouraged. We haven’t had any problems between us and that’s something for this bunch. I'm going to let Buffy and Giles take over now. Well...not take over, but I’m going to let them talk.’ Mal finished, gesturing awkwardly for them to join him in the front of the room.

Buffy glanced at Giles sitting across from her with Jody. Unable to help herself, she blushed hotly making eye contact, something she was able ‘not’ to do, all the way through dinner. Jody dropped her head to stare intently at her lap and Giles pulled off his glasses to give them a good going over. As he pulled them off, he said, ‘Yes, well…’ It was all he could manage.

Buffy took the hint, went to the front of the room, and plunged in. ‘Hello, Everyone.’ She began. 

Glancing over the room, she smiled haltingly, her gaze landing on Angel. He was sitting with Zoe. Cocking her head, she stared at him curiously, losing her train of thought. ‘How have I not noticed that before?’ she wondered, glancing at Spike. He smirked knowingly. ‘Psh.’ she thought irritably, almost rolling her eyes, then wondered, ‘Were you entirely wrong about Angel and Faith?’ Remembering where she was, she pulled her thoughts together quickly and got started.

‘I want to start by saying thank you. Thanks to all of you. You didn’t have to take us in. You could've left us out there, but you didn’t. I will be forever grateful to all of you for that. With that being said, life here has been a huge adjustment. It hasn’t been easy for any of us. We're coming along slowly and your patience with us hasn’t gone unnoticed. We really, can’t thank you enough.’

She smiled genuinely at the people who made up the community, ordering her next statements.

‘What I'm about to tell you is difficult to say out loud. It’s hard for me to even… I mean, I still can’t believe what I'm about to tell you is true. As you all know, Giles works tirelessly at the warehouse to determine what’s happened to us. What he’s found is shocking. A crime has been committed against us. While it’s true there are some families in those tubes, most of them are teenage girls who have been stolen from their families by an organization called the Initiative. They're here alone because of Riley Finn.’ She said significantly.

Giles rocketed from his seat and came forward, ‘No idea she’d do this!’ he swore to himself.

The room erupted in raised voices. Questions flew at her so fast she didn’t even hear half them. 

‘Everyone, please, I’m not finished yet.’ She called out.

Giles reached the front and began calling for quiet. He got it by simply talking and not stopping.

‘The Initiative, is a covert military unit that hunts, captures, and performs experiments on demons and other creatures. Now, I’m aware you’ve been told certain things and you know some of us are ‘different.’ I know some of you don’t believe the things you’ve been told about demons. You don’t believe they’re real and you equate them in your mind with Reavers. I can assure you, demons are real, as can several people in this room.’ Giles said, handing the room back to Buffy.

Making her voice stronger than before she went on, ‘What you should understand about so-called ‘demons’ from Earth, is some are evil and some are not. Some are as docile as kittens. I haven’t asked Angel or Spike to make clear to you about who they are as of yet, because I wanted you to have an opportunity to live with them first. As you know, they are Vampires and they have souls. Having a soul, has rendered the evil demons living inside them, dormant. Except for a few differences, they are just like us. They have emotions, feelings, morals and experience life the same way humans do. I’m telling you this now, because we are ready to move forward. You know, from the last weeks who these Vampires are. It is time for you to learn who they aren’t. These Vampires harbor demons inside their bodies, but that doesn’t make them monsters. We're going to prove that to you now, by introducing you to their demon’s.’ Motioning for them to come to the front of the room, she said, ‘Angel…Spike…please.’ 

Having been unaware they would be asked to do this, both Vampires reluctantly came forward.

Buffy took a step back and Spike and Angel vamped at the same time.

Chaos reigned in the small room once again.

Spike and Angel shifted back to resting human face and Buffy shouted above the din, ‘So, now you know for sure, that demons are real.’ No one was listening. People were angry and yelling at her and she tried to make herself heard, yelling over them and insisting, ‘Everyone, calm down! I need to finish…’ 

Captain Reynolds stood up when people began to leave the room.

‘Everyone needs to sit down. Right now.’ He stated.

That’s all it took. He spoke, his people complied. She wished she could instill that level of respect from her people. 

Captain Reynolds barked out, ‘I know everyone is creeped out, but you’ve been living with these two for months now. Ain’t no cause for panic at this late date. Besides, if I thought any of y’all were in danger, I woulda put these folks out the airlock. You know it’s true. Now shut up and sit down. We ain’t noways close to bein done and I’m getting antsy for home.’

Buffy continued, ‘I’m sorry for freaking you out. I need you to understand these men might be demons, but they're not monsters. You’re perfectly safe. No one has been hurt. I’m asking you to understand how a man could abduct an army of girls, he meant to use to save the world. I'm not making excuses for him. What he’s done is beyond forgiveness…’ her voice cracked.

Stopping, she covered her mouth with a trembling hand. She hadn’t realized how hard it would be to say these things.

‘Anyway,’ she deflected, pulling herself together,

‘Riley had his reasons for doing what he did and ‘we’ will deal with him. When we begin to reanimate these girls, you will hear stories about the way they were stolen from their families. We don’t want an angry mob showing up on our doorstep demanding we hand Riley over, because that isn’t going to happen. Ever. If you try that, you’ll have to deal with us. We're trying very hard to avoid that.’ she vowed, authority ringing in her voice.

‘That isn’t going to be a problem.’ Mal interjected.

Buffy nodded her thanks to him. ‘If you’ve been doing the math, you know it’s going to take ten years to reanimate everyone. It was decided, collectively, to do it this way because 1247 people will be an incredible drain on this communities’ resources. However, tomorrow morning we’re reanimating the rest of our family members and friends. Everyone but my sister, that is. There are enough of us now, to help acclimate our relatives to this reality. At least three of our people were severely injured when they were put into the tubes and we have no way of knowing what will happen when we reanimate them, so we’re asking for patience and understanding. If all goes well, they'll be here in two weeks when we gather for this meal again.’ She finished.

Giles stepped forward again, ‘That is all that we have for you tonight.’

‘Thank you all again.’ Buffy reiterated.


	31. Thirty-One

**Thirty-One**

Petaline patiently made her slow way through the receiving line to say good night to the newest members of the community. Fussing with her dress, she caught herself thinking both those fellas were something to look at, but that Dean was a scorching hot handful if she ever saw one!

‘And, that Buffy almost ruined my chance to introduce myself!’ Petaline grumbled, fussing with her hair now. ‘All those theatrics and foolishness! Jonah was never going to sleep again!’

It had taken ten minutes to get him to settle down and she hadn’t heard half of what was going on after that. So, here she was at the back of the line, waiting, after talking to the Captain. ‘All of that fuss. Scaring everyone half to death so they wouldn’t be scared half to death!’ she grumbled again.

Noting that she was scowling, she smoothed her features and rearranged the small basket she put together as a ‘welcome’ to the neighborhood. She did this for all the newcomers so far, but this one was just a little ‘extra.’ Generally, she put the snacks in a bag, but she arranged the apples, smuggled cheese, Fruity Oaty bars, and Blue Sun soda in a basket with a pretty cloth and was feeling pleased with the outcome. Hoping not to make a fool of herself, she tried to remember how to flirt. She hadn’t flirted with a man for longer than she could remember. Just now, she wished she hadn’t given Jonah an entire can of Blue Sun to get him to hush. He was chasing Hobie and making enough racket for three kids. It was almost her turn and she didn’t want to get out of line to reel him in again.

As if it were inevitable, there was a crash and then her child was screaming. Dropping the basket, she ran. When she got to him, one of those Vampires, the big one, was there.

Jonah was covered in blood and the Vampire had a towel pressed against his nose. Jonah’s head was tipped back and Angel, using a soothing tone of voice, was telling her child he was going to be okay.

Kneeling on the floor, Angel stood and held Jonah out to her. ‘I think it might be broken. Doc left already, but I can get him. Or, I can carry the boy to the lab, whatever you would prefer.’ He offered.

Dean arrived, carrying the basket she had dropped.

Momentarily distracted by the basket, she stuttered, ‘Let’s…take him to the lab.’

‘Do you know where Simon lives?’ Angel asked Dean.

‘Yeah. I got it. We’ll be right there.’ Dean said, noting the blood all over Angel.

‘It'll be fine.’ Angel assured him, leaving The Kitchen.

Dean watched them go and left to get the Doc. He still had the basket in his hand.

Angel walked with the screaming boy as quickly as he could without sending his mother into a panic. In the lab, laid Jonah on the table and washed his hands clean of the blood. Handing a clean wet towel to the boy’s mother, he sat down to wait for Simon.

‘Thank you so much! I don’t know how to repay you for this kindness.’ Petaline gushed.

‘No need. I'm just glad I could help.’ He answered, honestly.

‘I mean it. Thank you.’ She said again, feeling guilty for being judgmental earlier.

Angel smiled at the woman indulgently, but sat quietly and waited.

After a seeming eternity, Petaline couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

‘How…did you become…you know…a Vampire.’ She asked, whispering the word Vampire.

Angel silently groaned thinking, ‘No good deed,’ but irritably answered anyway. 

'That's a story, best left for another time.’ He said, sending a pointed glance at Jonah.

Petaline nodded her disappointment, but tried another question. ‘Well, how old are you?’

‘No way you’re getting out of this conversation.’ He told himself. ‘You should write a brochure or a pamphlet, “FAQs about Angel” and distribute it during the next Community Dinner.’

Realizing he was being rude, he considered pretending he hadn’t heard her, but she’d ask again.

‘I was 26 when I became a Vampire. I’m 790 now.’ He answered.

‘How does a Vampire get a soul back?’ she asked.

‘Yeah…definitely a pamphlet.’ He decided, managing not to growl. ‘Number one, I hate to talk.’

‘A gypsy cursed me.’ He answered, managing his tone.

Dean and Simon entered the lab.

‘Oh, thank God!’ Angel breathed in silent relief. Standing he said, ‘I'm gonna go.’

‘Thank you for getting him here, Angel.’ Simon said.

‘No problem.’ He answered, the Doc. Then asked Dean, ‘You can get them home?’

‘Sure.’ Dean agreed, noting the Vampire wanted to make sure they got home okay.

Simon looked Jonah over, declared his nose was in fact not broken, just bloodied. He gave the child some Ibuprofen and a lolly-pop. Glad he didn’t have to spend the next several hours in the lab, he gave instructions to Wave him immediately if there were any changes. The entire consult took less than fifteen minutes.

Dean watched Simon go, then handed Petaline the basket she dropped.

‘Thank you, for bringing it. I actually put it together for you to take home.’ Petaline said, motioning for him to keep the basket. ‘By the way, my name is Petaline. This is my son, Jonah.’ She added.

It was obvious Jonah's nose was feeling much better. He was still under the influence of an entire can of Blue Sun and now a lolly-pop. Investigating everything he encountered, scampering over parking blocks, balancing on curbs, she resignedly accepted her son was never going to get to sleep tonight.

Dean, mesmerized by the child’s energy, realized that they were standing in the middle of the street and he hadn’t answered the woman or spoken a word to her. ‘Dolt…’ He chastised himself, jerking into action. ‘Well, um, hi. My name’s Dean. You already know that.’ he said, like a big nerd.

‘I do.’ She smiled. Turning toward home, she began to walk.

Jonah followed along the way children do. Pretending to ignore the parent until they get too far away for comfort, then they scramble to catch up. The lab was only a block from The Kitchen and Petaline’s house was directly behind it. She walked slow, or there wouldn't be time for conversation otherwise. Even walking slowly, she came to her door faster than she wanted.

‘Would you like to come in?’ she asked, shyly.

‘I would.’ Dean admitted, ‘but it’s late and you probably have to get Jonah cleaned up and in bed. I…enjoyed meeting you. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. Goodnight.’ He said, stepping off the porch. He looked back once, as he walked away.


	32. Thirty-Two

**Thirty-Two**

Zoe took Hobie home, read to him and tucked him in to bed after Community Dinner. When he was asleep, she let herself silently out of her house and rang the doorbell at the Captain and Inara’s. It was late, but she was expected. Inara answered the door, wearing a beautiful teal silk robe that set off her exotic natural beauty to perfection. Zoe caught herself thinking, ‘I could never wear that color.’

‘Hello there.’ Inara greeted her with an affectionate, hug. ‘I'm sorry we didn’t get an opportunity to talk during dinner, so I'm thrilled you're here. You look amazing by the way. Did you take a spa day while you were away? You haven’t looked this relaxed in quite some time. You're going to have to tell me the name of this spa that you went to.’ Inara said teasingly, continuing to chatter as they moved through the house.

Zoe watched Inara closely. It wasn’t common knowledge, but the Captain told her earlier in the day Inara was ill while Zoe was gone. “She’s a might starved for company.” He confided, shadows of fear passing behind his eyes. So, here she was. Company. ‘No spa day. Just a great trip. I'm happy with the outcome. Was able to get things we can use, including a walk-in freezer full of meat and cheese.’ Zoe confided.

‘And, it was delicious! Such a surprise. Thank you for bringing it. While you were gone, Kaylee went down to assess the other farm. While she was there, she found a stash of seeds. There are watermelon seeds.’ Inara exclaimed.

‘Does the Captain know?’ Zoe asked, grinning.

‘Yes. He's very excited.’ Inara replied.

‘I can’t wait to get my mouth around some of those juicy melons!’ Mal called comically, strolling into the room, wearing what amounted to a bastardized version of a ‘Kimono’ and he looked ridiculous. 

Zoe and Inara cracked up.

‘What?’ he asked, pretending not to catch on.

‘Melons.’ Inara giggled.

‘What, are you wearing? Sir…’ Zoe quickly added, pressing her lips together in effort to stem her laughter.

‘I mean fruit!’ he exclaimed, feigning affronted exasperation.

‘And this outfit?’ Zoe challenged, ‘What do you mean by this?

‘I like it!’ he defended, looking himself over.

‘Me too, Sir.’ Zoe sobered, giving him a serious nod.

‘Let’s go and sit down.’ Inara laughed. ‘Tea, Zoe?’

‘No. Thank you. Come and sit.’ Zoe answered.

‘So, you have something to tell me?’ Mal inquired.

‘I do, Sir. I ran into Badger while on Persephone. He asked me if I knew where to find you. I told him you were dead. He proceeded to follow us all over Eves Down. Turns out, he's been asking for you all over the system. Paying for any information that could lead to you.’ Zoe explained.

‘He has…’ Mal said, considering this bit, ‘Well, what does he want?’ He followed up, curiously.

‘Says he has a job for you. I insisted you’re dead and I’d be happy to take on the job. He declined, but had us followed. As I said before.’ she reiterated. 

‘He didn’t offer anything else?’ Mal asked, curiously.

‘No, but he’s certain I can lead him to you. I might've, if not for Angel and Faith. Before, having River along with us occasionally for her psychic ability and fighting skills was good. Angel is better. With Faith, the two of them together are unstoppable. We had three tails on us. The two of them, dispatched all three within seconds.’ Zoe confided.

‘What else can you tell me about them?’ Mal asked, excitedly.

‘Well, for starters, I like them. Both of them. I trust them with my life, Sir. Already. Their instincts about people and situations are spot on. It’s a close relationship, but they aren’t sleeping together. Don’t think they ever have. She trusts him and she don’t trust anyone. She’s a badass, like, a Bonafide badass. River won’t be able to beat her. None of us could match her in sparring, not even the Vampire. She can hustle pool like nobody’s business. All of that tough talk isn’t just talk. She’s been through hard times and he got her through. That’s where the trust comes in. You wanna get to her, you gotta go through him. Same as the other two.’ Zoe finished.

‘You’re sure there’s nothing physical?’ he asked, skeptical.

‘If there is, they're masters at hiding it. Not even body language. No flirting. She flirts with everyone. They complete each other’s sentences. Nothing even remotely off color, even when they're sure no one is watching or listening. They just talk. Like folks.’

‘Sounds like us.’ Mal remarked, minus the flirting. He amended.

‘That it does.’ Inara agreed.

‘Okay, well, next trip, see if you can find out what Badger wants. Also, I’m curious. Did I have a nice funeral? Were there lots of mourners and flowers?’ Mal wisecracked.

Inara slapped out at him playfully and Zoe got to her feet.

‘Night, Sir.’ Her amused long-suffering evident in her tone.

‘Zoe, someday you’re going to have to start calling him Mal!’ Inara insisted.

‘Maybe.’ She called as the front door clicked closed.

‘You better go and lock that, or River will be in bed with us before the sun comes up. Don’t forget to add the pin onto the regular lock or she will have it open for sure. Bring water!’ She called over her shoulder, leaving the room.

‘Bring water!’ he thought, joyfully. ‘Means she’s feeling stronger.'


	33. Thirty-Three

**Thirty-Three**

Buffy felt as if all she did with her free time lately, was groom herself. Every time she looked halfway decent, Spike pinned her against the closet wall for thirty minutes and then she had to start over again. She smiled at that thought around her toothbrush, then rinsed it and her mouth.

Recalling a conversation with Dean days after she and Spike were confronted in their own home, she knew then they had a long way to go. He arrived alone, demanding to know if she were in Spike’s ‘thrall.’ It would have been hilarious if he weren’t serious.

Spike handled the situation. ‘She’s not under my thrall, Mate.’ He answered, ‘It’s just the opposite. The Slayer here, has me twisted so tight around her little finger, my demon finally had enough and the bloke surrendered, doing the only thing he could do. Went straight out and got my soul back for her. There’s no ‘thrall’ in that, Boy. That’s passion.’ He explained, scathingly.

‘Spike’s a poet.’ She had explained.

‘Oh.’ Dean answered, in clueless confusion, ‘So, are you, or aren’t you?’

‘I’m not.’ She confirmed for him, thinking not for the first time Dean had to have things spelled out for him. Obtusely, she teased, ‘He's, definitely in my thrall. Not that it's any of your business.’

Reaching for her towel, she dried her mouth and hands, calling, ‘Spike…are you up?’

After the entire debacle of Angel and Faith disappearing. Dean’s constant crap, the unveiling of Demons, her stress level, and general stupidity, she informed Giles the day after the Community Dinner they were taking the month off. She then went so far as to threaten Simon with castration if he so much as thought about disregarding her decision.

Needless to say, he didn’t. General stupidity turned her month, into six weeks.

The decision made her very unpopular with Jody and the Winchesters, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. Having decided there was no way, was she adding more chaos into their mess until she was able to get the current mess under control, she made several more decisions. Coming to terms with how that control would happen, was the problem. If there were any other way, she would have taken it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t and she was tired of being diplomatic. Taking Faith, she went to see Captain Reynolds for advice.

Having no previous knowledge of the reason she was there, Faith exclaimed, ‘It’s about time!’

‘I agree.’ Mal added, going on to say, ‘I was starting to worry you would let it continue.’

Buffy blinked at him in confusion. ‘You mean, all of that was a test?’

‘Started to worry I was wrong about you.’ Mal confirmed, ‘Best way to learn a lesson is the hard way, I always say. Now that you remembered who you are, I’ll back you up.’

And he did.

After knocking Dean squarely on his ass, no less than three times, Mal finally stepped in to back her up, just like he said he would. ‘You may not like it, but I put her in charge and it’s is my planet. That’s the final word on that.’ He flicked his eyes back and forth between Dean and Giles as he said it. ‘No one’s forcing you to stay. If you do, understand this is the last time we have this ‘discussion.’ Next time, you find someplace else. Got it?’ Mal asked. It wasn’t really a question. ‘Let me know if you’re leaving. We can help you get ready to go.’ He said, dismissively walking away. 

‘…and, that was that.’

During the blissfully calm month that followed, everyone except Giles, came to understand her. Somethings were open for discussion and some were not. After making it clear no one else was being reanimated until they could present themselves as a ‘stable, united, focused, group’ and all of the ‘reasons’ for that decision, Jody and the Winchester’s finally accepted she wasn’t on a power trip. Only then, were they able to get some work done. She built a working relationship with Dean and Jody. She got the laundry schedule under control. Managed her stress, by enjoying entire days alone with her boyfriend. Angel and Faith didn’t disappear again. Angel explained to her in private where he had been and what he’d been doing. She began their own tradition of a weekly dinner she cooked with Spike’s help to help foster a sense of community between them. Mostly, they mentally prepared to deal with the grief and anguish coming their way. Personally, she was ready for it. Being supported and in control of the situation, helped her feel stronger. More capable of helping her friends and the others, through what they were about to go through.

They weren’t incapable of dealing with the blow, but if she could soften it for them, she would.

Communication is key, isn’t just an inspirational poster.

Today, was the day. It was still early morning, but she was up and getting ready.

Everyone, was ‘coming home’ today.

‘Babe?’ she called again, but didn’t get to finish.

According to the doorbell, they had a visitor, the sun wasn’t even up!

Spike opened the closet door saying, ‘I’ll go.’

She stopped him. ‘I’m done. I’ll get it.’ Pecking him a kiss, she turned to go.

Swatting her behind, he protested the chintzy kiss, ‘Aye!’ Snagging her hand, he twirled her back to him. Scooped her up, he plopped her rear on the counter and pushed his way between her knees, kissing her proper.

It curled her toes and her legs found themselves twining about his waist.

‘What you do to me…’ he grinning wickedly.

Everything below her belly button convulsed. ‘You're evil.’ She breathed; cheeks flushed.

‘Mmmm, sweet talk...’ He teased, unmercifully, catching her lower lip between his teeth.

Letting go, he looked her over like she was breakfast, brilliant blue eyes glittering seductively.

Running a hand down his taut stomach, she gave the bulge in his pants a squeeze.

The doorbell rang again.

She groaned in frustration, pushed him away, clenched her thighs and yelled, ‘Coming!’

‘Not yet you’re not.’ He called after her.

Refusing to stop in the kitchen to hydrate, she made it to the front door in time to stop Dean from getting on the elevator. Quickly, he shoved his way out before the doors closed. Buffy drew confused brows together. Running the perpetual list in her head, she tried to remember if she agreed to meet with him. Deciding she hadn't, she said, ‘We’re coming down in a few minutes. Spike’s getting dressed, but come in.’ she invited, pulling the door wide.

‘Oh, well…I knew that.’ He offered, coming inside.

Shutting the door, she said, 'Okay...?' And waited for him to continue.

‘I ugh, just wanted to talk to you first. Before we, ugh, go to the Lab.’ He stammered, running a hand over his chin.

‘Sure.’ She replied, gesturing for him to take a seat.

Walking deeper into the penthouse, he perched on the arm of a chair.

Buffy could sense his unease.

‘Let’s talk in here.’ She gestured at the war room.

When he didn’t budge, she asked casually, 'So, what’s up?’

He didn’t answer, just stared at her.

Eyebrows shooting skyward, she prodded, ‘So, you’re ready to go to the Lab…?’

‘Okay, then.’ Dean said, rolling his neck nervously, ‘So, there’s a redhead...’

Spike came in, cutting him off. ‘She’s not for sale, Mate. Besides, she plays for the other team.’

‘I’m not trying to buy…I know she’s gay! Okay…listen, this girl is my best…’ Not speaking in complete sentences didn’t allow him to finish, again. 

‘You know Willow?’ Buffy asked, confused, unable to understand what he wanted.

‘Who’s Willow?’ He asked in bewilderment, needing to get this done before Sam came looking for him.

‘Willow’s the redhead. She’s 'my' best friend…actually.’ Buffy answered.

‘I think he means Violet, come to think of it, Pet.’ Spike said.

‘Oh…’ Buffy felt silly, ‘Well, what about her?’

‘You say her name is Violet, but she is a ringer for Charlie. Look, it’s a long story, but what do you know about her? Violet…I mean. Sam and I need to know if she’s our friend. The last time I saw her, I mean, my Charlie was in 2015 and she was dead in a bathtub. I realize this Cha…Violet is from 2003 and that’s long before I met her… I just need to know if she's my Charlie. Understand?’ he asked, hopefully.

‘So, how can I help?’ Buffy asked.

‘Well, how did she end up with you?’ Dean asked.

‘Well, if memory serves, she had a watcher, but he was killed and the Watchers council sent her to me.’ She explained. ‘I don’t know anything about parents.’

‘Watcher’s council?’ Dean asked. ‘Not thinking on parents just yet.’

‘Giles, is a watcher. He’s actually my Watcher. It means teacher. He watches over me. Violet had one as well. All of the ‘Potential’s’ had one, but if the girls came to me, their Watcher was dead. Killed. Most likely their parents and families as well.’

‘You’re telling me Charlie is a Slayer?’ Dean asked.

‘No. I’m telling you Violet is a Slayer. I have no idea who Charlie is.’ Buffy explained.

‘Buffy?’ Giles called through the locked front door.

‘Right!’ Spike boomed, getting to his booted feet, ‘Shall we?’

‘Let’s go.’ She said.

*******

**Simon’s Lab**

Nervous, excited, sick at her stomach, anxious to see her friends on one hand and on the other, Buffy wished she could leave them where they were. Asleep, happy and clueless. The only thing she could vaguely recall about being in the tube, was searching. Nonstop searching. Giles said he dreamed about his entire life. Spike said he didn’t remember. Angel wouldn’t talk about it. Faith said she dreamed about being different people all of the time.

‘Why can’t we leave them in there?’ She asked, dread threading the question.

The room was unsettlingly quiet.

‘Because…just, because.’ Faith answered.

You never think of fourteen being a terribly large number, until you turn that number into tubes containing bodies and put them in a ‘smallish’ room. Fourteen lives were about to change. They were going to do this, every two weeks.

Buffy ran her sweaty palms down the length of her slacks, then rested them on her hips. Unable to stay still any longer, she paced through the Lab, squeezing past furniture, tubes and people. It was almost time, or she would go outside for air. Rubbing at her chest, she stopped, and gulped in a breath. Spike was behind her instantly, ‘You’ve got this.’ He murmured, ‘And you’ve got help.’

Across the small room, Jody watched as Buffy worried a crease into her forehead.

‘I can relate.’ She thought, as her own guts twisted themselves into knots.

Unconsciously lifting trembling hand to rub at her forehead, she checked for her own crease and went stand next to Clair’s tube. Laying the probing hand on it, she took a deep breath and forced her shaking body to still. Unbidden, images of their last day together flickered like an old movie through her memory.

‘One minute we were sitting down to a meal with Donna. The next, the dining room was full soldiers, covered in black combat gear. I took a breath and passed Claire the beef and broccoli, feeling so much relief because I knew she was home to stay. It was the first easy breath I took in weeks!’ she thought, bitterly remembering, ‘I was so pissed! Claire was home. She was going to take a chance, then BOOM! I knew we were going to die. Just like that, it was over.’

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. Now, here they were. It wasn’t over, but she knew her Claire. That was the only chance she was willing to give and it was over. Clenching her jaw, her fist followed at her side. ‘Gonna have to calm down, Momma Bear.’

Sam, watching, came to put an arm around her. Squeezing he said, ‘We will get her through it. Together. It’s going to be easier for her, because she will have all of us.’ Jody leaned her head against him. On anyone else her head would be on their shoulder, but he was just so tall. It made her smile.

Dean tapped on the glass tube that held Castiel, ‘Aren’t you awake in there yet?’

‘He’s not a fish, Dean. Stop it.’ Sam chastised.

‘I know that, Sam…’ Dean grouched. Turning to Cas he raised his voice and leaned over the tube, ‘He’s an Angel, who doesn’t even need to sleep! Cas! Wake up!’ Dean smacked a hand against the glass again. He was tired of waiting. ‘Cas!’ Nothing happened. Dean looked at his brother, clearly annoyed and shrugged.

Angel thought of nothing the last two days but Gunn. Did he still consider Gunn a friend? He didn’t know. He knew he was still violently angry with him over Winifred and confused by his concern for his wellbeing. These conflicting emotions probably meant he should forgive Gunn, because when it came right down to it, there was nothing to forgive. Gunn wasn’t the one responsible for Fred, he was. He put them in a position to be tempted and Gunn wasn’t strong enough to resist. He was angry at Gunn for being human, and couldn’t see his way past it. He was a hypocrite and he was unreasonable. This, situation dominated his thoughts more than his own son did. Giles came to tell him a week after he reanimated, Connor’s adoptive parents were in the warehouse. He didn’t know whether to be grateful or furious. ‘Amazing how much changes, but is still the same and really, isn’t anything.’ He pondered. ‘I’ll wait for Connor to decide.’

Faith watched him. Raising his eyes to hers, she gave a quick nod, meant as reassurance.

‘Everyone in this room is on pins and needles.’ Faith laughed, inwardly. ‘Everyone except me.’ Worrying is for suckers. What’s going to happen, will happen. All those girls down at the warehouse, she was as alone as any one of them, but for some reason, she was here in this room. Angel believed they were family, but Connor was coming out of that tube any minute now. Connor was his family. Angel didn’t see it now, but he would. She didn’t have anyone in this room, but it was apparently her job to be here. So, here she was. She didn’t bother to look in those tubes, just took a seat and waited until it was time to go to work.

Simon came in carrying a handheld computer. Stepping to the center of the room and announced,

‘Okay, I think we can go ahead and lift the lids.’

There was the slightest hesitation and then Jody lifted the lid of Claire’s tube. Spurring the rest of the room into action, tubes opened one after the other. Just a few more minutes patience and they would begin to wake up.

‘Why am I naked?’ Cas asked, sitting straight up, startling Dean who no more than had the lid open. That lasted a beat, until Dean, uncaring of Cas’s nakedness grabbed him in a bear hug, laughing because he just couldn’t help himself. Uncertain of his surroundings and circumstances, Cas patted Dean on the back. The moment Dean let go, Sam took his place, tears standing in his eyes, ‘It’s good to see you, man!’ He received another bone crushing hug.

Four tubes away, Kennedy, already out of her tube, coaxed Willow awake. Buffy was directly opposite Willow’s tube, did the same with Xander. Giles, opposite Xander, helped Oz pull his blanket around his waist.

Faith, unable to curb her curiosity, but still mindful she was here alone, slid off of the counter she perched cross legged on. Waiting near Robin’s tube, she could see he was awake, but hadn’t sat up yet. Simon was asking him questions, reminding him to take his time getting up. Robin obeyed and answered the Docs questions. 

Kaylee, playing nurse for the day, was with Gunn echoing the questions Simone asked Robin. As far as Faith could tell, they both were doing well. Curiosity sated; she began backing away. Robin, finally sitting up, saw her. A heart stopping grin creased his handsome face and she felt a little ‘lighter’ to be on the receiving end of it.

Spike patted Andrew on the shoulder, while he asked questions non-stop. Spike picked up a long time ago, that it was a ‘nervous’ thing. He didn’t attempt to answer any of the questions pouring from the boys his mouth, just let him talk. Surprisingly, he didn’t get frustrated and tell him to shut up.

Zoe helped the badly injured, mostly recovered Rona, to her feet. Once out of the tube she shuffled in Violet’s direction. Violet, sitting with her legs dangling over the side of her tube, didn’t look confused, but tears ran freely down her cheeks. Violet, having watched her fall to the ground, believed Rona was dead before she to hit the floor.

‘How are you? Okay?’ Buffy smiled at Xander.

‘I have to pee.’ He answered, honestly.

‘Okay.’ She laughed. ‘Can you stand up?’

His perplexed expression said he didn’t know why she asked that. 

‘Here, sit up.’ She instructed.

He looked down, noting that he was indeed, laying down. 

Helping him as he pushed himself into a sitting position, he took over, maneuvering his legs over the side of the, ‘What is this thing?’ he wondered.

‘Just sit still for a sec.’ Buffy instructed.

He did and when he was ready, slid down, planting his feet on the floor. ‘Legs are wobbly.’ He announced.

‘That’s okay, just go slow.’ She said, helping him into the bathroom.

Once he was inside, she turned to look for Willow. She was on her feet. Kennedy brushed hair out of her eyes and kissed her. Willow wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and they stayed that way until Will stopped swaying.

Buffy flicked her eyes to Oz and saw him see Willow. His expression made her chest ache. Thankfully, Xander was in the bathroom. This would be the first in a series of painful moments today. ‘Might as well start with the easiest first.’ She grimaced.

Kennedy helped Willow take a few shaky steps while she gained her balance, but a few more saw he standing solidly on her own. Kennedy let go and pointed in Buffy’s direction. Willow turned toward her and was about to smile at her. There was nothing Buffy could do to stop it. Oz walked from between the tubes, less than three feet away, directly in her line of sight. Giles was behind him.

Willow refocused on the obstruction in front of her. Oz held her eyes with his and watched helplessly as they brimmed with astonished tears. Willow’s arms reached for him of their own accord and then he was holding her.

Speechless, Kennedy watched her girlfriend drift into the arms of a stranger.

Enfolding her, Oz kissed Willow’s forehead. 

Buffy squeeed silently, ‘It’s just like the movies!’

Kennedy hadn’t recovered yet.

‘Hi.’ Oz said, simply, burying his nose in her hair.

Willow burst into tears and leaned into him. Oz hugged her tighter.

‘I was so worried about you…’ Willow sobbed.

The sound of Willow’s voice, broke the spell binding Kennedy.

Xander chose that moment to exit the bathroom. ‘Oz?’ he blurted, into the cacophony of the room.

As a werewolf, Oz heard him without any problem, but he didn’t let go of Willow.

Xander gathered Willow and Oz into his big embrace and was swaying with them, by the time Buffy reached them. ‘Oh my God, Buffy! Look! Oz!?’ he said, pulling her into the huddle. ‘Dude, where are we?’ he asked, eyes roaming. They landed on Giles. ‘Giles! Look! Oz!’ he called, loudly.

Willow was laughing now, Xander having driven away her tears of relief at seeing Oz. Soon, Buffy and Oz were laughing too. Xander danced them in a happy sway and called, ‘Oh! Hey Giles! Ugh, do you know where we are?’

Spike smiled at the happy pile and gave Andrew a push. Xander reached out to grab him.

‘Don’t get jealous.’ Faith said, sidling up to Kennedy.

The girl was fuming.

‘That’s never going to be for us.’ Faith explained, dropping wisdom on the fledgling Slayer.

Kennedy stubbornly pushed past Faith, ignoring her.

At the other end of the lab a similar scene played out with Jody and her girls, as well as Angel and Connor. Connor was sitting and allowed Angel to hug him briefly. Faith was back on her perch hoping Kennedy wouldn’t make a spectacle of herself, but kept an eye on her ‘just in case.’

Buffy pulled away from Xander to talk with Faith. ‘How is he?’ She asked, Faith quietly.

Faith didn’t try to deflect; she knew Buffy was asking about Robin. ‘Doc hasn’t made any noises that concern me, yet. That little Star Trek thing he is using should tell us something in the next few minutes.’

Buffy smiled, giving Faith a nod and squeezed her hand.

Startled, Faith quirked a genial, non-comital grin that was half smirk at Buffy. ‘Settle down, Faith.’ She chastised herself. This is a lesson already learned. Never count your chickens, blah blah blah. She watched Buffy stop to talk to Rona and Vi.

‘You guys good?’ Buffy asked.

‘I feel okay. I’m tired oddly, but okay.’ Rona said.

‘I’m good.’ Violet answered, short but sweet.

‘Good news. I’m glad. Doc will be by to see you shortly.’ She turned to leave.

‘Where are we?’ Violet asked.

‘In a minute.’ Buffy promised.

Alex took Patience and Claire’s vitals again. ‘Just to be sure.’ She looked over at Cas while she counted, to see him fold a sheet around his body, toga style. It made her laugh and she had to start over. Dean talked to Sam in quick, short sentences, explaining the situation with Violet. He should have said something earlier, but he had to be sure. Sam nearly wrenched his head off his shoulders looking for Violet. When his eyes landed on her, they ‘O’ in shock, then grew serious. Capitulating to Dean, as usual, he kept quiet and calm until this could be sorted out later.

Shouting across the room, Xander asked, ‘Hey, Buff, where are we?’

The room quieted and turned toward her.

‘Crap…’ she swore, inwardly, leave it to Xander.

‘Hey…’Willow said, casting her eyes in search of someone.

‘Double crap.’ She swore again. Here it comes.

‘Where’s Dawnie?’ Willow asked.

‘She’s still asleep.’ Buffy explained, vaguely.

Willow nodded in ‘Oh…’ drawing her eyebrows together in consternation.

‘Why?’ Xander prodded.

Spike crossed his arms over his chest and gave her the ‘I told you’ face.

‘Because I didn’t want to wake her up, until all of you were awake…’

Confusing them both with that answer, she huffed out a sigh and turned to look at Angel who gave her a slight nod, then Faith who pointed back at her, basically saying, ‘this is your circus.’ To make it unanimous she looked to Dean who gave her one nod. At that, she made sure Gunn and Robin were out of their tubes and comfortable. Simon shook his head, asking her to stall. She took the time to gather the ‘speakers’ at the front of the room and began.

‘Everyone, if you can gather around and get comfortable, we have a long story to tell you. If you need to use the rest room, get water, or if you feel ill, let’s take care of that now. You need to hear everything and repeating it is going to be difficult.

It took another ten minutes before she could get started.

*******

It… went just about as expected. The lab devolved into complete pandemonium on several occasions. Most notably, Rona shrieked her head off when Mal came in to introduce himself, even though everyone had been warned. It fell to Faith to keep her from running out of the Lab. Clearly, only a third of the information was getting through. So, they started over.

Andrew sat quietly, tears streaming down his face.

Jody had one hell of an argument with her three girls.

Castiel left the room immediately upon hearing he wasn’t on Earth.

Dean waved it off as a non-concern. ‘He’ll be back any sec.’

This was the reaction to the news they weren’t on Earth and wouldn’t be going home, as well as the appearance of Captain Reynolds. The part about Riley, the other tubes, Spike and Angel or the particulars of Miranda weren’t even in the batter’s box yet.

Dean was right, Castiel return in a matter of minutes only to shock the room into silence.

‘It’s all true, because I’m an angel and I know.’ He announced, asked curiously, ‘Why is everyone on this planet dead?’

Buffy’s head fell back on her shoulder and she groaned.

‘Cas!’ Dean yelled in his damnit, voice.

‘What?’ Cas replied, perplexed.

Dean threw his hands in the air, exasperated.

‘Should I not ask why we are on a planet full of dead people?’ Cas inquired, innocently.

Dean pivoted to yell ‘GAH!’ at the wall and pivoted back, ‘No, Cas! You shouldn’t. Okay?’.

Sam merely glared at Cas, disapprovingly.

‘Ugh, what does he mean, everyone is dead?’ Kennedy asked.

Dean tipped his head at Kennedy and shot Cas a pointed ‘See?’

Cas didn’t ‘see’ and in fact looked ready to argue the point further.

‘Okay, not everyone is dead.’ Buffy interjected.

‘Yes, they are.’ Cas disagreed.

‘Cas, just…be quiet.’ Sam groaned.

‘Okay, let me rephrase,’ Buffy said, ‘not everyone in this town is dead.’

The room blinked at her owlishly.

‘Maybe you can explain why we’re are the only one’s alive?’ Robin persisted.

Turning to Captain Reynolds for help. He obliged her.

‘My name, is Captain Malcom Reynolds and this is my planet.’ He began.

Then, he rolled out. The Alliance, G23 Paxilon Hydro chlorate, dead people everywhere, all in a perfunctory, no nonsense, no sugar coat way. Vowing this would be the last time she would watch these facts be delivered to anyone, she determined to film an introductory video before the next round of reanimations. Watching terrified people refuse to believe what they were being told was breaking her.

‘I can’t endure another day of people hating me for being a messenger.’ She said to herself.

When Mal was done speaking, Alex asked, ‘So, what are we going to do?’

‘Well, that’s the question isn’t it.’ Jody answered, adding with a gesture, ‘This isn’t finished.’

Buffy was up again; she and Giles took turns explaining about Riley and the tubes.

When they were finished, Robin said pointing at Spike and Angel, ‘That’s not all.’

Perturbed, because it wasn’t time for that yet, she had no choice but to agree and explain. She tried, but Dean and Jody had to take over when the three girls, Claire, Alex, and Patience refused to listen to her. Claire was in the process of telling Angel she was going to kill him when Cas effectively ended the outburst.

‘Claire, these Vampires have souls. You can’t kill someone with a soul. You have nothing to fear from either of them, Angel is crippled by guilt and wouldn’t hurt anyone and Spike is almost human.’ Cas divulged. This shut all three girls up and, in the silence, Cas went the extra step. ‘You have more to fear from wild kittens than either of those two, so be quiet now. There is more we haven’t been told.’

Spike groaned in exasperation, at being described as harmless, ‘Great…just great!’

When that was finally dealt with, she was left with Riley and the tubes. Like a contagion, numbness settled over the room and it was as if she’d broken them. All but Xander stared in blank stillness at nothing.

Xander furiously paced at the back of the room. His toe caught a chair leg and he swore, hoping on one foot. Clutching the toe, sure it was broken, he yelled at Buffy demanding, ‘Where is Riley now?’

Buffy swallowed hard, because this was the part she’d been dreading. Xander was Riley’s staunch supporter from the beginning. He wasn’t going to take this well. Coaching herself silently, she said, ‘Don’t react to the betrayal you are going to see on Xander’s face.’ Taking a fortifying breath, she began to answer, but was cut off.

Giles, having mercy, answered and fielded the subsequent argument. ‘Riley and Sam are still in tubes.’

‘You get his ass in here, right now!’ Xander freaked out, gesturing wildly and going on tirade lasting several minutes. He finished with a furious, ‘So…get…him…in…here.’

‘We won’t be waking Riley up, for quite some time.’ Giles said, calmly.

‘Why not?’ Xander yelled!

‘And who are you to make that decision?’ Claire stepped forward, challenging him.

‘I made that decision.’ Buffy replied, stepping in to back up Giles.

‘And just who are you anyway?’ Claire challenged a second time.

‘She’s the one in charge.’ Jody answered quickly.

‘You may or may not like it,’ she began, echoing Mal’s statement to Dean several weeks earlier, ‘but I’m the authority here. Over you and everyone in a tube. You all answer to me and I answer to Captain Reynolds. That’s how it is. If you don’t like it, you can go back into a tube, until we arrange an alternative for you. As the Captain informed you, this is ‘his’ planet. You’re a guest here. I’m an appointed liaison. His word is law here.’ She finished.

Claire looked like she was going to press the issue, but Jody hushed her. Anything else Claire wanted to say, was stubbornly argumentative and wouldn’t change anything. ‘Please, go on.’ Jody said, to Buffy. Xander, not liking it, but having the benefit of ‘years of experience’ in dealing with Giles and Buffy, accepted the ‘No.’ for now, but he would definitely be bringing it up later.

‘Thanks.’ Buffy replied to Jody, moving on from the subject of Riley. ‘So, we’ve been given two hi-rise apartment buildings and the surrounding neighborhood for our personal use. At this point in time, you been assigned units. After a while, we’ll look into spreading out a little, but for now you’re living together. It helps, trust me on that.’

‘Why?’ Claire asked, confrontationally.

‘Because,’ Angel answered, tired of this girl. ‘Buffy was here alone. She knows what it’s like.’

No one added anything in the silence.

Buffy thanked Angel with a quick half smile more grimace. That he understood what it was like for her to be here alone, was what she’d been hoping to shield them all from. It also reminded her, and everyone else, that he knew her well. While she appreciated his intervening, it also made her feel, uneasy. Picking up the thread of her ‘speech’ she said, 

‘If we’re ready, we’re going to walk home now. Your apartments are ready to live in. If you had personal items, they’re in your place already. Everything you need for daily life is already there. Toothbrush and what not. Spike and I did what we could to make it ‘homey’ for you.’

Pausing, she made her decision. Now was the time.

‘One more thing. Spike and I are together. We live together. Dawn will live with us when she is reanimated. If you have misgivings about that, keep it to yourself.’ She said, looking at Xander.

‘Duh…’ Xander answered. ‘Let’s go. I want to take a shower. Do I have a shower?’

‘Yes…you have a shower.’ Spike answered, from the back of the room, smiling at his Slayer.

‘I will be telling you more about Miranda as we walk. The bodies have been cleared between here and home. However, it’s possible we missed one. Please, don’t freak out. Also, don’t just ‘take’ something if you see it. There are ‘rules’ about bodies and personal items. If you start pulling together a list, in a few days we will see about taking care of it. Anything that is an emergency, let me know and I will handle as soon as I can. The TV’s work and slowly but surely, Sam is getting the ‘Wave’ boxes sorted out. Ugh, ‘Wave boxes’ are face phones.’ She added, lamely. ‘So, that’s it. Ready?’

In answer, they stood collectively and single filed out the door.


	34. Thirty-Four

**Thirty-Four**

As they walked en-mass to their building, a vehicle big enough for all of them wasn’t available, Buffy felt like a realtor. Talking on points of interest and doing her best to keep everyone moving, she answered questions and gave reassurances.

‘I’m told,’ she robot chirped, ‘The weather on Miranda is always, mild. Not too hot or cold but just right. There is a winter, but it only gets cool enough for sweater weather. I’ll explain to you the way it was explained to me. Miranda was meant to be a luxury homestead. The people living here were employed almost entirely, by the Blue Sun Corporation who had their headquarters here. It’s now located on Meridian, also in this system. You’ll see Blue Sun emblazoned over everything on Miranda. I know what you’re thinking, thirty-three million people working for one company seems farfetched. Blue Sun is a giant conglomerate with hundreds of ‘mega companies’ under their umbrella. I’ll have more about this later. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but it's important for you to know these things.’

No sense in talking about things she would have to repeat. Though the landscaping had overgrown entire buildings in some cases, they gawked like a group of children at Santa’s Winter Wonderland. The city was both fascinating and terrifying like a tornado or tsunami in the sense you couldn’t look away. In the same sense, if you stared at something too long your mind began to whisper about what was inside and if had serious repercussions on your psyche. Buffy knew the daycare was there, buried under the overgrowth, but she refused to look in that direction anymore.

Moving past the daycare, she went on, ‘Right now there is one active farm, but four total in the city. Everyone takes a turn working at the farm during the week. Everyone.’ She stressed. ‘Kaylee runs the farm. As we reanimate more of us, the bigger drain we become on Captain Reynolds people. This is why everyone works the farm. Eventually, we'll have enough people to work one of the farms for our exclusive use. Until then, we survive on the generosity of Serenity Township.’ She sipped from the water flask she carried, offering some to Spike. It didn’t go unnoticed, when he sipped from the flask. Having him noticed, was her motivation.

‘In two weeks, we'll join Captain Reynolds and the rest of his people for something they call Community Dinner. It’s exactly what it sounds like. You'll all be formally introduced to the entire living population of Miranda at that time. It’s done this way to allow you time to acclimate to your new surroundings and for the citizens of Serenity Township to get used to the idea that you’re over here.’ Buffy explained.

‘How is it, you were the first one reanimated?’ Kennedy asked, genuinely curious.

Buffy stopped walking to answer Kennedy. ‘Mostly a story for later. Short answer, River decided.’

Kennedy looked away from Buffy, not liking the answer she got.

Buffy ignored her, going on. ‘You'll meet River at dinner in two weeks. She’s Dr. Tam’s sister.' Belatedly, she thought of River’s propensity for ‘introducing’ herself and added, ‘If not sooner. River had a tendency to do as she pleases.’ Turning away, she pointed, ‘Those are our buildings.’

Behind her, murmuring rippled through the group as they realized she was pointing at the two luxury hi-rise buildings. They were beautiful, rivaling anything Las Angeles could have offered.

‘Captain Reynolds and his people were able to get our building and the immediate area surrounding us ‘ready’ for our use, but it will be up to us to finish. I’ll go into detail about that later. What you need to know is, if you enter any apartments in building two or houses, especially after five blocks or so, you could get a surprise. So, keep that in mind.’ She coaxed.

‘Why?’ Patience asked, ‘I don’t understand…’ But then she did and trailed off, blushing hotly.

Violet, confused as well looked to Rona, who leaned in and whispered, ‘Full of dead bodies.’

‘Oh…’ Violet’s mouth dropped open and flicked a glance at the building.

Rona pursed her lips and grimaced at Vi’s nauseous expression, ‘We're going to be fine. Hear me?’

Violet sank to the ground in the middle of the street, melt down imminent.

Dean, with Buffy following, pushed their way through the group to get to her.

‘Vi, listen to Rona, we're going to be fine.’ Buffy assured her.

Violet, shaking her head in vigorous denial. Tried to speak, but nothing came out.

Rona, forcefully shook Vi, ‘Look at me…’

She didn’t. She couldn’t tear her eyes from the 50-story building full of bodies.

Dean, seeing neither of them getting anywhere, crouched and slid a hand under Vi’s chin, gently pulling her face to his, his gruff voice promising, ‘Hey, I swear to you, we're going to be okay.’ Holding her tear-filled eyes with his own intense gaze, he softened, but grimaced when she nodded obediently and her tears slipped over her lower lashes, splashing on his hand. A moment ago, there was some doubt, but not anymore. This was Charlie. The tell-tale brown surrounding the irises in in her slate-colored eyes, was a dead giveaway, but it was the one fleck of gold just there, with the final word. Vi was absolutely his Charlie and her vibrating body told him she was breaking. Joy at finding her here, was overshadowed by her fear. Forgetting about caution, forgetting about everything, only wanting to shoulder her burden, he vowed to her in a whisper, ‘Celeste, I promise you’re going to be okay. Sam and me, wont…’ that was all he got out.

Vi’s reaction was immediate. Ripping her chin out of his grasp, she scrambled away, crab walking on her heels and hands, pure terror replacing what was only genuine fear before. ‘How…?

‘What did you do?’ Rona accused, shoving at him.

‘Damn…’ he muttered, motioning for Sammy to take over, and leveling himself into a sitting position. He didn’t try to get near her, but held his hands up in surrender. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just wanted you to know you aren’t here alone.’

Sam blocked Vi’s view of Dean. Her eyes traveling up his over tall form. He sank into a crouching position so he didn’t look so imposing, resting his elbows on his knees. Slowly, he explained, ‘We…met you, before. We were…friends.’ He offered, gently.

Violet twisted away, shot to her feet and ran. Rona started after her.

Buffy stopped her. ‘Let her go, Rona. Spike’s got her. She just needs a minute.’

‘She’s freaking out.’ Rona countered, vehemently.

‘I know. Trust me, I know.’ Buffy answered, reassuring the Slayer. Turning to look down at Dean she said, ‘I thought you decided to wait before saying anything to her. If anything at all.’

‘I did too!' he defended, helplessly. 'But…you saw her. I was trying to help!’

‘Well, good job there, Tony Soprano…’ She answered, sarcastically.

Dean scoffed, ‘You’re…old.’ He retorted at her obviously dated remark. Sam helped him to his feet, the significant glance he offered his brother, all the reprimand required. Dean was beating himself worse than anyone else could.

Buffy ignored Dean, ‘Let’s go everyone.’ She prompted.

Encyclopedia Buffy picked up where she left off, dropping relevant facts relating to trash removal, renewable energy and Miranda’s power grid, along with what was expected regarding upkeep, per Captain Reynolds. Spike and Vi were waiting for them in the courtyard between the two buildings. Buffy waited for them to join the group before going inside.

‘We're on the top floors. Everyone except Angel and Faith. Conner, for now you’re staying with your, with…them.’ She stammered, belatedly remembering what Angel told her about…all of that. ‘So, we’ll say goodbye to you here.’

Connor offered a mock salute and split from the group with Angel, who gave a wave and followed.

Faith remained, taking her place next to Buffy now that it was time to help folks get settled in.

Buffy began in Encyclopedia mode again, ‘There are two elevator banks. One for the lower floors located to the left of the lobby and one for the upper floors on the right. Ours are on the right.’ She explained. ‘Giles and Faith are taking the group on forty-seven. So, Xander, Andrew, Oz, Robin Gunn, that’s you. Jody, I’m finished talking for the night, so you can take your group and go. Willow, Kennedy, Rona and Vi, you’re with me.’

Then they were off.

In her elevator, Buffy was no doubt explaining to Willow and the others, the same thing Giles was explaining to Xander and the rest. ‘All of the units are three bedrooms and three bathrooms, so everyone will have their own space and privacy. Apart from the penthouse, and anything after the 30th floor, each floor has four units. We left the furniture and kitchen equipment in the units, but anything of a personal nature to the former occupants, has been removed. Clothing, shoes, bathroom items, mattresses, pillows, sheets and towels, were all brought in new from the abandoned stores. So, hopefully, it’s not awkward.’ she explained.

Vi said, ‘Thank you, Buffy. It means a lot for you to do that.’

‘You’re welcome.’ She replied, as the elevator opened. Emptying into the hallway, she said, ‘We learned it's best in the first month if no one lives separately. I understand it’s an adjustment, but no more so than while living in Sunnydale or on base. In a month, you can spread out, move into your own places, where that may be. For now,’ she said opening the door to their apartment, ‘This is home. This entire floor, has actually been delegated to you four. It’s up to you if you live together of separately and who you choose to live on this floor with you later.’ She added, with a shrug.

Filing into the room, Kennedy was the first to respond, ‘Get out of town!’ she exclaimed.

‘Are they all like this?’ Rona inquired.

‘In lay out, yes, but different styles.’ Buffy answered.

Willow stayed with Buffy while the others examined every nook and cranny of the apartment.

Buffy, understanding her friend said, ‘Come up later. When you get settled. I’m the ‘P’ in the elevator. Just so you know, Giles is asking Oz to come up as well. There are some things we need to ask you both about. Couple hours be okay?’

Willow was nodding as Buffy talked, ‘Yeah, sure. Buffy, how is Oz…’

‘I don’t know.’ Buffy answered sighing, ‘It’s one of the ‘things.’ For now, let’s just, roll with it.’

‘Roll with what?’ Kennedy asked, barging into the conversation.

Down on forty-seven Giles was saying, ‘After you’re acclimated to Miranda, you can branch out and begin to live on your own once more. We thought it best for now to keep the groups as they were on base. With the exception of you, Charles.’ Giles explained, stepping from the elevator. ‘We thought to give the option of you and Robin bunking together or next door to each other, but on the same floor as these three.’ He said, gesturing at the Scoobs.

The guys reactions to the apartments mirror the gals, but Giles pulled Oz aside explaining quietly that Oz would be staying with him until next week and if he would ‘come up’ in a few hours, he would explain everything. Oz answered in the affirmative and with that done, Giles pointed out general functioning, how to work the lights, program the Telly, and explain what various foods were. When finished, he said good-bye, reminding Oz to come and see him in a few hours.

On forty-eight, Buffy exercised extreme patience with Kennedy. If the situation were reversed, she wouldn’t be happy about it either. 

‘Can’t it wait?’ Kennedy complained, bristling.

‘If it could, we wouldn’t be asking.’ Buffy countered.

‘It’s okay. We can go for a little bit.’ Willow cajoled.

‘Fine.’ Kennedy whined.

‘Thank you, Kennedy.’ Buffy said, taking a step back.

Spike, recognizing her tone and body language, understood it was time to go and pulled himself from his position against the wall, next to the front door. ‘See ya, Red.’ He waved.

Willow smiled and waved, back while they left.

*******

**Building Two**

‘So,’ Angel said, leading his son toward a flight of stairs and gesturing, ‘We’re down here, but if you want, we can put you in a different unit in a month.’

‘Dad…’ Connor said, testing the word. ‘I really, have no idea what I want right now.’

Angel stopped and looked at his son. He liked the word Dad in relation to himself. Especially coming from Connor. Robbed of the chance to be a father to the boy, he was cautiously optimistic for the opportunity to get this chance with him. Remembering vividly what it was like to cradle his newborn son in his arms and sing him to sleep he replied hesitantly, ‘Well, I guess we…you, can figure it out as you go.’

Connor nodded, considering that and hesitated at the stairwell door his Vampire father held for him. Raised by that lunatic Holts, he still loved in some weirdly loyal way to hate this Vampire on principle, he was conflicted about a relationship with him. Manipulated into hating his father, he discovered later how wrong he was about him. What Angel had done to set the world right for him, was what parents who loved their children did. It made a difference in the way he thought about Angel now. Even though he struggled with how to respond to him, he wanted to know the guy.

‘Do you know if my parents made it here?’ Connor asked, staring at the open door. Shaking his head at Angel’s surprised expression, he cleared his thoughts. He’d surprised himself too. The question had come from nowhere, blindsiding them both. Shrugging he said, ‘I’m curious. I mean, not to spoil the moment of you ‘bringing me home’ with you or anything, but they’re my parents.’

‘What do you mean?’ Angel asked, still holding the door.

‘Made a deal with Riley. I agreed to help him get to you, if he swore to send someone after Laurence and Colleen.’ Connor replied.

‘I…don’t know.’ Angel answered crestfallen and started down the stairs.

‘Dad…’ Connor said, again.

Angel stopped, turning back toward his son.

‘Either way, I want to stay here with you.’ He confided.

The smile that didn’t come to Angel’s lips was fully evident in his eyes.

‘I’d like that.’ He replied and they went down the stairs.

‘Also, just a question.’ Connor began, ‘Why are we in a basement across the street?’

Angel opened the door to their apartment and they stepped inside.

‘Buffy…wanted me to feel like I was at home.’ He answered.

Connor, turned a circle taking the place in. ‘Well, she did a good job. This looks just like your place.’

‘She did.’ Angel agreed.

It reminded him heavily of the basement apartment he had when it had been just him, Cordy and Wes at the office, before moving to the Hyperion. It was industrial grey walls instead of bare brick, but she’d warmed the space up with woven rugs, darkly stained furniture with Asian inspired designs and several low light lamps scattered throughout the main room. A heavy bag hung in the far corner and three yoga mats were in the space as well. The kitchen was minimalist, but there.

‘Does this TV work?’ Connor asked, pointing at the extremely large flat screen.

‘This one doesn’t, but I'm assured it won’t be long.’ Angel answered.

Connor grinned.

‘There are three bedrooms here, but I don’t think Faith will stay much longer, so if you like her room better, you can have it when she goes.’ Angel said.

‘Where is she going?’ Connor asked.

‘She’s…a loner, but wherever she goes, it won’t be far. Are you hungry? Tired? Do you want to get a shower or do you just want to sit and chill?’ Angel asked nervously.

‘I…yes.’ Connor grinned answering all of his father’s questions at once.

‘I brought food in yesterday. Let’s see if there is something you want.’ Angel offered.

*******

Several hours and an unsatisfactory nap later, she and Spike crossed the foyer to Giles’, making sure to knock, even though the door was cracked.

‘Lesson learned.’ She whispered to herself, sagely.

‘Come in!’ Giles called, irritably. ‘The door is open!’

Spike sidled past her, pushing the door the rest of the way open. Casting a concerned look around his shoulder, trying to catch her attention as he held the door for her, and asked, ‘You comin?’ 

Jerking into motion, she went in, ‘Sorry, just…lost in my thoughts.’

Spike straightened from ‘door holding position,’ and placed a hand on her back ‘escorting’ her inside. She supposed it would be too much to ask for Kennedy to stay home, but there she was. Hugging Willow hello, she took a moment to actually talk to her best friend.

‘I missed you, SO much.’ She said, squeezing the witch. ‘Tomorrow, I request you, me, Xander time. Okay?’

‘Willow nodded, ‘Of course.’ Then let go at the knock on the door.

‘I’ll get.’ She said, going to let Oz in.

She pulled him into a hug before he could say anything. ‘I’m so happy you are here with us.’

‘Likewise.’ The wolf, responded. ‘So, you and Spike?’

When she pulled back to look at him, there was no censure, only curiosity.

‘Come in and I’ll tell you all about it.’ She quipped.

Stepping into the room, Oz made straight for the shelves holding Giles books and record collection. Nonplussed, his first question was, ‘Giles, how, did you get your record collection here, intact?’

‘That’s quite a long story, but the gist of it is Willow.’ Giles answered.

‘I’m sure it is. Looking forward to hearing it.’ Oz replied, sending Willow a mellow toned smile.

Kennedy reclaiming Willow’s attention asked, ‘So, what’s so important it couldn’t wait?’

Ignoring the rudeness, Willow pulled her hand free and sat down on the sofa.

Kennedy, hovered over her, sitting on the arm of the sofa. It annoyed, Giles.

‘Kennedy, wouldn’t you be more comfortable sitting on the sofa?’ he prodded.

Not taking the hint she said, ‘I’m fine.’

Buffy was in a terrible mood and Kennedy’s abrasive personality always rubbed her wrong. When she heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes, she knew she shouldn’t, but couldn’t help herself. When this didn’t prompt Kennedy to sit down, she lost her patience. ‘That’s it! Kennedy, get off of the arm of that sofa and sit down like a normal person!’ Buffy groaned out loud, ‘Listen to me! I sound like someone’s mother!’

‘Whatever.’ Kennedy mumbled.

Ignoring her, Buffy rubbed at the bridge of her nose and said, ‘Will, we have run into sort of an interesting anomaly. As you saw for yourself, Spike and Angel don’t burst into flames in the sunshine here…’ she began.

‘First…’ Giles interrupted her, ‘Buffy, why don’t you sit down as well. I need a cup of tea. This day has been dreadfully long already. Anyone else for tea?’ he asked. Kennedy had successfully gotten on his nerves and while he knew it was petty, he couldn’t stop himself from forcing the girl to sit there and behave herself until he decided it was time for her to go.

‘Sure, Mate.’ Spike answered into the tension, ‘Need some help?’

Giles, startled by Spike’s offer to help, blinked in hesitation, ‘Certainly not…anyone else?

Spike didn’t take offense, on the contrary Giles’ rigid dislike amused him.

Everyone declined the offer of tea.

While Giles was gone, instead of moving ahead, they made small talk. Sort of.

‘Oz, where have you been all of this time? More importantly how did you end up in one of those tubes? I can’t tell you how happy I was to see that you were here with us.’ Buffy began.

Oz, uncomfortable, took a moment to fashion an answer, but he was Oz, he always looked uncomfortable. If you didn’t know him, you would assume he was being evasive, but it was simply his way to think before he spoke. ‘I…was in Northern California. Up near Redding.’ He answered.

Willow listened intently. She ‘needed’ to know this.

‘I heard what was happening in LA and Sunnydale. While making my way south to offer what help I could, I ran into Riley, in LA. He was staking out the Wolfram and Hart offices, trying to get to Angel. I offered to go in, let Angel know Riley wanted to see him. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in a tube, naked, in a room full of people, and it’s 500 years later.’ He answered calmly.

‘You were coming to help?’ Willow asked, quietly.

‘Yeah.’ He said, as if she should have known the answer.

A tiny smile crossed her lips. He mirrored it. The atmosphere in the room became heavy.

‘What were you doing in Redding?’ Kennedy gritted.

It wasn’t so much the question that pissed him off, it was the way she asked it. Inhaling, he deployed the first step in his calming ritual, but a moment later, he realized there wasn’t any need. He was agitated, but there wasn’t an outward show of that agitation. The hair on his hands wasn’t even standing up. It didn’t make sense. He was annoyed with the way this ‘person’ was manhandling Willow. Had been, for the last several hours, but that was all, merely annoyed. His wolf wasn’t presenting itself. Reaching for it, he flexed his hand, assuming the wolf was asleep. It wasn’t. The wolf was right there. ‘I don’t…’ he began, but Giles came in carrying tea.

‘Everyone is getting tea whether they want it or not.’ He declared, handing a mug to Spike.

Spike groaned, Giles put blood in the tea and he didn’t want it now. Setting it aside, he went back to observing Oz, hoping to suss out what his odd energy was all about. 

‘What is it?’ Willow asked, noticing the odd energy as well and accepting the tea forced on her.

Oz shook his head, dismissing the question to answer Kennedy instead, ‘I was…I was living on a commune built on a nature preserve. Likeminded people who don’t want to endanger humans, live and work there.’ He answered, distractedly. ‘Or, I guess, used…to.’

‘Yes, but what happened just now?’ Spike prodded.

Oz pulled a frown and cast an uncomfortable glance at Kennedy.

‘Ignore the silly bint.’ Spike pushed.

Giles snorted, ran a hand over his mouth to cover his smile and pretended that his tea was hot.

Oz laid his head against the back of the very tall chair he was sitting in and closed his eyes. He wouldn’t have called Kennedy names. She was feeling insecure. That was taxing on a person’s mood and should be dealt with kindly. Her response, was perfectly normal for being surprised by her girlfriend’s ex. Pulling himself away from these thoughts, he took a breath and responded diplomatically, hoping not to cause Willow any more distress. ‘Okay, so… just now, Kennedy annoyed me, slightly. When I have those kinds of feelings, there’s a protocol I use. I started to use it, but… I didn’t need to.’ He quirked a questioning eyebrow, at his own statement. ‘I mean, history tells me I was doing what needed to be done, but nothing was happening. My knuckles didn’t even get hairy.’ 

‘Interesting.’ Giles said, setting his tea down to give his glasses a wipe. After cursory wipe, he pulled out a notepad and started scribbling while everyone watched him. Marking the silence in the room, he looked up to find them watching him. Folded the book closed, he put it away. ‘What? If we're going to figure any of this out…’ he began.

‘Giles, focus.’ Buffy teased, cutting him off.

‘Right. So, you didn’t feel anything? Or is it, nothing happened?’ Giles asked, picking up his tea.

‘I didn’t feel...anything.’ Oz answered.

‘Will,’ Buffy said, turning to her best friend. ‘Make Spike’s tea cup move.’

Willow glanced at her curiously, knitting her brows together.

‘Just try it.’ Buffy urged.

Willow shrugged an ‘okay,’ as answer.

She reached out and twisting her hand in a smooth upward motion said, ‘Resurgemus.’ Nothing happened. She tried again…still nothing. ‘Uh! What?’ she complained. Doubling down, she demanded of the cup, ‘RESURGEMUS!’ There was a ripple across the top of the tea, but that was all.

‘It’s okay. You’re probably just, tired and out of sorts.’ Kennedy offered. Standing, she pulled Willow up from the sofa, ‘Willow’s tired, we're going.’ Kennedy announced, tugging Willow out the door.

‘Does she know where she’s going?’ Spike asked.

‘Doubtful…’ Buffy answered.

‘I’ll be back.’ Spike said, getting to his feet.

‘Don’t be long, Arnold.’ She teased. ‘Remind them about dinner tomorrow.’

After Spike left, Oz asked, ‘How long have they been together?’

‘Not long.’ Buffy answered, then giggled, ‘Or centuries, depending on how you look at it.’

Oz ingested the information.

‘Kennedy is the first person since Tara.’ Buffy offered.

‘She doesn’t…seem like Willow’s type.’ Oz said, diplomatically.

‘Tell me about it.’ Buffy groaned.

‘The girls a right pain in the…’ Spike interjected coming through the door.

‘Spike…’ Buffy cut him off in warning.

‘Right.’ He rolled his eyes.

‘So, I hope you don’t mind bunking in with Giles.’ Buffy said.

‘How long do I have until the…’ Oz began.

‘Follow Giles. It’s all taken care of and he’ll explain everything.’ She instructed.

‘Right this way.’ Giles gestured.

Giles opened the door to the downstairs bedroom. Inside was a regular bedroom, but there was also a cage.

‘We didn’t know what to expect, so we just prepared.’ Buffy called.

‘The full moon is in two days’ time. We thought it would be for the best, if you stayed here until we know what to expect.’ Giles elaborated.

Stunned, Oz said, ‘Thank you! I was worried about it. I mean, I can control when it comes out, but like you said, we don’t know what will happen.’ Turning to Spike he asked, ‘So, what’s it like, being in the sun?’

‘Honestly, took some getting used to. Only thing I'm having a problem with is the constant eating. I'm always hungry and booze doesn’t help it. I actually get inebriated if I drink too much now. I’ve gained 10 pounds eating vegetables. Have to actually work out. Other than that, it’s all peaches.’ Spike answered.

Oz nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself.

‘We’re going.’ Buffy declared. ‘See you tomorrow for dinner.’ She reminded Oz.

Crossing the flyer, Spike asked, 'Luv, what's got you in such a state?'

Pushing the door to the penthouse open, she went inside, Spike following. As soon as the door was closed, she hurled herself into his arms and burst into tears.

'Buffy, talk.' He prodded.

'Did you see them? Today? I'm so tired of being sad. All I want is to be happy. Truly happy for a few hours if nothing else.'

Spike hoisted her into his arms and carried her upstairs. 'Expectations are a joy killer, My Heart.' 

Agreeing, she nodded her head against his chest. 


	35. Thirty-Five

**Thirty-Five**

**Building Two**

‘I’m gonna take a walk.’ Faith announced.

Before she could get out the door, she was replaying the scene from the day before. Robin watching her as the elevator doors closed, without saying a word. That was fine. If that’s how he wants to play it; she was 'fine with that.’ She wasn’t done being mad at him either.

‘So, it’s been 500 years. So, what! Still feels like yesterday.’ She railed.

Walking firmly away from that subject, she revisited the subject consuming most of her time instead. Buffy, and the discussion they had shortly after she returned from Reaver hunting.

When Buffy put her in this building with Angel, she didn’t know how to feel about it, but Angel helped her see clear to Buffy’s reasoning, as usual. How Buffy knew her, better than she knew herself, was a mystery, but she did. Angel and B were both right, she would’ve gone crazy inside of the first day with all the ‘joiners’ next door. Eventually though, if she wanted it, the penthouse in her building would be hers. All she had to do, was move in.

Not quite sure if B was talking to her in metaphors or what, but that day was an epiphany.

Since Sunny D and then the Base, she felt more ‘in control’ of her life. Moving past her jealousy and pointless disdain for B helped her to understand, no one was ‘keeping her down’ except her own damn self. It wasn’t B who blew it. Buffy had only ever tried to be her friend.

So, B wouldn’t compromise her morals or standards. How’s that ever a bad thing?

‘It’s not. And, it’s time for you to grow the hell up.’ She told herself.

The situation on Miranda, was jacked. Watching B try to deal with it, was an eye-opening experience. It was obvious, Buffy was out of her depth, but she didn’t throw her hands in the air and walk away. Every single thing here, was different and only recently she begun to understand the power struggle between Buffy and Giles.

In Sunnydale, it had taken failing badly for her to understand why Buffy was ‘the one.’ Buffy could and did ‘handle’ everything thrown at her. Not this. This job was too big for her to do alone and she recognized that. Even so, Captain Reynolds made her the ‘responsible party’ and Giles was behaving as if she were limitless. The frank conversation Buffy had with her and Angel, definitely startled her. ‘Think about it and get back to me.’ Buffy said, after explaining what she wanted. Basically, what she wanted, was a silent partner, in which Buffy was the silent one. Essentially, the intention was to make decisions together, then Faith would carry out those decisions, leaving Buffy open for other things Faith had no interest in.

‘It’s either you or Kennedy and I trust you more than her.’ Buffy revealed.

Nothing could have shocked her more than that statement. All she had to do, was agree.

If Buffy had this much fai… ‘belief’ in her abilities, she ought to be able to believe in herself.

Breathing out a heavy sigh, she stared at the hi-rise across the courtyard. Her mouth quirked into an involuntary grin when she remembered Buffy only half teasing about renaming the buildings Joyce and Jenny. Seemed like a good idea to her. Seymore and Sawyer were fuddy-duddies.

Turning away from the courtyard, she rounded the corner and headed for the shopping district. There were only two things she needed to do today. Give Angel and Connor some time alone and find some black leather pants. If she was going to be any kind of an authority figure, she’d have to ditch the ‘mom leggings.’

Setting a pace, she jogged through the neighborhood she investigated last week. B was right, full of bodies. Bodies everywhere, but no leather pants. Did she feel weird about that? A little, but not enough to stop her from taking and keeping a pair if she found them. While on Persephone, she shopped as much as time and schedule would allow. No pants. Today, she was on a mission.

Picking up her pace, she synched her breathing and fell into a rhythm that unfortunately, brought Robin back into focus. None of the distraction tactics she usually employed, counting, singing, stopping to do pushups dislodged the persistent memory of their last night on Base.

‘Fine! I’ll think about it if you’ll step off when I’m done!’ She yelled, rolling her eyes,

Pushing her pace a step harder, she just let it play.

Shower after training the Noob’s. Finish drying her hair. Standing in front of the fridge. Knock on the door. Robin taking her by the hand, pulling her out the door. Playground. Blanket, pillows, candles, wine, plastic cups, romantic oasis putting her off center, convincing her to stay, finally relaxing, dancing, he brushed her hair, talked music and food, all those things you talk about on a ‘date.’ Never made a move, the entire night, no kiss! When she yawned, he stood her up and walked her home. At the door, he brushed a feather light kiss across her lips.

‘I had a good time.’ He said, then turned around and left.

Watching him go, all she felt was annoyed. Stupid kiss made her wonder if he would kiss her like that again and not just that, she wanted him too. No way. Learned that lesson, not looking for a repeat in that class. Like each other, have the sex, avoid the feelings. Safest way to go. Later, when he got spooked, he wouldn’t need some lame ass excuse to ‘spare her feelings.’

‘So, we good now? Can I just run?’

When the nag that lived in her head stayed quiet, she slipped into the zone, and ran.

*******

Hosting a dinner party was a normal, grown up, up kind of thing to do and she was kinda enjoying it. At the advanced ago of 523 she had never hosted a dinner party. Giles suggested it might be a good way for everyone to get a good look at each other. She agreed. In truth, she was just glad for distraction. The holding pattern with nothing to do but wait for the reanimation of their friends and family, was soul crushingly boring and Spike was her victim when faced with another day of funeraling bodies and no fun. She was having fun now though.

‘Thanksgiving, doesn’t count!’ She argued with Spike.

‘Oy, I got shot with arrows! Now, it doesn’t count?’ He plead his case loudly with ‘jazz’ fingers.

She rolled her eyes at him and stirred.

‘I suppose the bear doesn’t count either.’ He asked. ‘Point, Spike.’ He air tallied.

‘I didn’t mean that it…’ she started.

‘Mean what, Luv? I was almost eaten by a bear! It counts.’ He insisted, laughing

‘I didn’t mean...’ She laughed, ‘I just meant it was the last one I attempted. It wasn’t a success.’

‘Not even a little!’ he laughed.

‘I’m hoping this one is, because I’m sort of enjoying it.’ She shrugged.

‘Still feeling ‘cooped up’ a bit?’ he asked, searching out her mood.

‘I didn’t say that. I just… I’m trying to find the happy. I thought…I don’t know what I thought. Everything is 'different,' but I still wake up to patrol. There’s nothing to patrol. It’s ridiculous. I have you, I have my friends finally, I live in a palace, I’m not exactly happy... But I feel like I should be.' She complained. 

Spike stopped chopping to listen. ‘Expecting it for a month and there it is.’ He thought, ‘Domestic tranquility be damned. Only so much shagging you can do before you have to get out of the house and kill something.’ Scrapping his veggies into the bowl, he set them down next to her and wiped his hands clean.

‘You, need me for anything?’ He asked. 

‘Ugh, not that…no.’ she answered, curiously.

‘I need to take care of something.’ He drawled, vaguely.

‘You need me to help?’ she asked, hopefully.

‘No, it’s sort of a…I can handle it.’ He said, cryptically.

‘Okaaay.’ She said, drawing out the word suspiciously.

‘It’s just a thought I had. I’ll be back in a tic. Ugh, where is that big suitcase?’

‘What are you…?’

‘Surprise, Luv.’ He answered, pecking her a kiss.

‘It’s in the foyer closet.’ She answered, pointing.

‘Back soon.’ He called from the door.

‘Bye…’

Moments later, not bothering to park, he drove his small car into the Blue Sun Shopping Complex.

He loved this place. You could get everything from a tooth brush to a tiger skin rug here. Today, it was sporting goods. Paint ball guns. Paint balls. Air soft rifles and handguns of every type and description, as well as pellets. Foam covered martial arts staffs and batons, tennis balls and rackets. Next stop, was the toy department. It was Nurf Heaven. He was going to have to make two trips.

Nerf had a carpet bomber now. It was glorious.

‘Not going to be as fun as those tennis rackets.’ He laughed, chucking it into the car the climbing in. The miniscule car as full of projectiles as could possibly be. If he was quick, he could make second trip. Speeding down the main aisle to the exit, he was forced to cram on the breaks when Faith stepped into the aisle, struggling to pull on a pair of black leather pants. Hopping back and forth, to stretch the material over her narrow hips she successfully zipped and buttoned the pants.

Now that she was done, she looked at him, her expression asking, ‘How do I look?’

‘Nice.’ He grinned, giving her a thumbs up. 

Looking past him to the contents in the car, she laughed.

‘Wanna help?’ he inquired.

‘Hell yeah!’ she exclaimed.

‘This is just a start. If we hurry, we can be set up before dinner.’ He explained.

‘I’m with you.’ She answered, shoving Nurf bullets into nooks and crannies.

They distributed the weapons horde as if it were Easter eggs then went back for another load. Faith added soccer balls, basket balls, every ball they had, went into the car. When they were finished, they were grinning like idiots.

Faith smirked as she got out of the car and headed toward home, ‘No alliance after dinner, yo. It’s every man for himself.’

‘Too right that.’ Spike agreed grinning wickedly, ‘May the best Vampire win.’

She laughed, 'Not if I see you first.'

When he arrived back home, Buffy looked askance at his empty hands.

‘Surprise, Luv.’ He repeated. ‘Need a shower. You?’ he asked.

She grinned and followed him upstairs.


	36. Thirty-Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I chose to introduce characters in this chapter as this is a cross over and though it's unlikely, maybe some readers need to be introduced to characters. :)

**Thirty-Six**

Giles, unsurprisingly was the first to arrive. Just as unsurprising, Angel arrived last, with Connor and Faith. Catching sight of a ‘thing’ between Spike and Faith, she cocked her curiously. A wiggle of his eyebrows was the only answer she got.

‘Let me guess. Surprise.’ It wasn’t a question.

As with all parties, there was a bit of awkwardness in the beginning.

It didn’t last long though, thanks to Xander. ‘So, this is everyone?’ he asked.

Silence.

‘Okay then.’ Xander said, in trademark Xander. Rubbing his hands together, he said, ‘I’m going to suggest we do this Round Robin. My name is Xander…’

Everyone groaned.

‘Ugh…’ Buffy stepped in, ‘I’m going to suggest we eat.’

‘Oh! Right!’ Xander said, grinning nervously.

‘So, it’s pretty self-explanatory.’ Buffy said, gesturing at the buffet. ‘Plates and things on this end, and then, ugh…food.’ She stammered, realizing self-explanatory didn’t need explaining. ‘Then find your seat, they’re assigned for a reason. Also, self-explanatory.

They broke away and formed a line at the buffet.

‘Angel…’ she motioned to him. ‘I have you taken care of. It’s in the nuker.’

‘Thank you.’ He said, quietly.

When everyone was seated, the requisite salt passing finished, the uncomfortable silence returned. Buffy cannonballed into that silence, startling everyone.

‘Did you guys know, in order to be aggressively sought after as an astronaut by NASA, the more practical knowledge you have about things like plumbing and problem solving the stronger candidate you are? I had no idea! I thought they were all just math nerds! I’m only bringing it up, because in the warehouse there is an entire crew of NASA worthy geniuses. I barely got through calculus!’ she exclaimed, taking a bite of her potatoes. ‘According to Giles, there’s doctors, pilots, mathematicians, and mechanics, who all have more than one degree. Some of them specialize in things like nutrition, radiation, extreme environments, structural engineering, chemistry and a whole bunch of other stuff! I’m so excited, because next week, we start reanimating them.’ she took another bite, swallowed and looked up.

Everyone was staring at her.

‘You know, because I can’t do all of this by myself…’ She shrugged, then went on. ‘There are at least a thousand teenagers in the warehouse. I don’t know about the rest of you, but with the exception of a handful of us, all we’re good for, is killing monsters. No offense. What I’m getting at, is next week, we’re going to be dealing with people a lot smarter than us. We’re going to be presented with differing opinions, from people who are educated and employed to solve problems. It’s probably for the best, if get our minds ready to listen to these strangers we don’t know.’

Complete silence, followed by eating.

‘Okay Xander,’ Buffy said, ‘Go ahead.’

Xander’s head popped up from his plate, there was sauce on his chin. Buffy wiggled her finger at her own chin to indicate that he needed his napkin. He self-consciously swiped at the sauce and then swallowed.

‘Okay, ugh, I’m Xander Harris…’ and got tongue tied.

Buffy smiled and took over, quick and clipped. ‘Met Xander since high school. He’s a BFF. Lost his eye fighting The First Evil. Funny. Wiz with a hammer. My ‘go to’ for just about everything. He was in thrall to Dracula once. Very amusing. Get him to tell you about it.’ 

Gesturing to Willow she went on, ‘This is Willow Rosenberg, my other BFF. Crazy smart and the most powerful witch on record. Fun facts, she skinned a guy for being a jerk and she makes cookies to apologize. Giles is my watcher. He carries a complete set of encyclopedias’ in his brain, as well as an entire library on demon lore. First name Rupert, he’s British and this one time, he totally made out with my mom on the hood of a police car.’ She grinned at him.

‘Buffy, really! ‘Giles exclaimed, pulling off his glasses.

‘It’s 100% true.’ She teased, then went on. ‘These people are affectionately referred to as ‘The Scoobies.’ They have helped me fight everything imaginable and lived to tell about it. Kennedy is Willow’s girlfriend, she’s from New York?’ Buffy stumbled in the introduction needing to be reminded if that information was correct. Looking to Kennedy for confirmation, she got a nod in the affirmative. ‘She will be an amazing Slayer, if we ever having anything to slay again. Andrew is a pop-culture virtuoso and can quote all the Star Wars movies verbatim.’

‘Not…Attack of the Clones.’ He offered shyly.

'Fine, not Attack of the Clones.' Buffy agreed.

‘This is Violet…’ Buffy began.

Violet shot from her seat, startling everyone.

‘I’m…I’m from,’ the girl glanced at Dean. ‘My real name is Celeste Middleton. I'm eighteen. My name might be Celeste, but I prefer to be called by my first name, Violet. My parents, my father died when I was twelve, my mother is in a… I mean, my mother was in a coma. I was at a sleepover and they were killed on the way to come and get me. My watcher introduced himself to me later and I lived with him until he was killed. He sent me to Sunnydale and that was when I met Buffy. I…don’t want to say anything more for now.’ She said, never looking away from Dean the entire time she spoke.

‘Okay. That’s okay. Thank you, Vi.’ Buffy said, as Vi took her seat.

‘I’m Rona.’ The girl said, getting to her feet. She was across the table from Vi. ‘I’m seventeen. From Chicago. Grew up in the system. Survived the Hell Mouth.’ Rona turned to look pointedly at Buffy. ‘…and I want to know where Cari, Chao-Ann, Colleen, Dominique, and Shannon are. 

‘They’re in the warehouse.’ Giles said, answering the question for Buffy, effectively cutting off that line of questioning.

Just as Rona was just about to press the issue, Faith stood, bringing the back up.

‘I’m Faith. I’m the number two Slayer. I’m from Boston. I'm 523 years old and I make that look good. I’m a smoker, but damn if you can find a cigarette around here. My interests are, wait, it ain’t that kind of group meeting is it?’ she shrugged, didn’t say anything else and sat down. 

Buffy rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Pulling the attention back to herself, she went on.

This is Spike. As you know he’s a Vampire. He's…’

‘I’ve got this, Pet.’ Spike said, standing.

‘No! We will be here all night!’ she laughed, playfully. ‘His real name is William, he’s from London. He’s 648 years old. One of only two Vampires to have a soul. We live together, he’s my boyfriend.’ She acknowledged out loud, to everyone, but flicked a quick glance at Angel before the rest of the table. ‘Generally good natured, but can be an ass if he’s having a bad day. Like anyone really. You're safe. He drink’s blood on occasion, but all you need to know about that is that he won’t drink yours. He also eats food, as you see.’

‘This is Robin. His mother was the Slayer in New York city. Principal of Sunnydale High. All around nice guy. If you need an ear to bend, you can count on him. For transparency, you need to know Spike killed Robin’s mother.’ 

‘Questions?’ Spike asked, looking around the table.

No one said anything.

Buffy went on. ‘Met Oz in high school. Quiet guy, stoic really. Incredibly smart. Amazing Bass player. Willow’s ex-boyfriend. Werewolf.’

‘I’m Buffy. I’m the Slayer. I’ve made a deal with the man that owns this planet. We can live here as long as we understand that I answer to him and you answer to me. All of the rules are his. I have a sister, Dawn. She's still at the warehouse. Angel, you have the floor.’ Buffy finished, taking her seat.

Angel stood to do introductions. Would've rather had Buffy stake him than be forced to tell people who he was, but it was necessary so he sucked it up. ‘My name now, is Angel. I have a soul, like Buffy said. My real name is Liam. I was born in Galway, Ireland, but lived in the United States most of my life. I am Spikes grand sire. I’m 724 years old. This is my son, Connor. That…is a long story that I don’t want to get into. I stay to myself.’ He finished, sitting back down.

Buffy gestured to Connor, who didn’t stand.

‘I’ve had a few different names, but Connor is my real name. I'm Angel’s son, but I was adopted recently by the Reilly’s. I’m sixteen. I'm a ‘living’ Vampire. It just means that I’m a human Vampire. I don’t drink blood. I have a heartbeat. My adoptive parents are in the warehouse. I don’t really want to get into the details, but technically, because I was raised in a hell dimension, I’m only two. Or, well, 502. My mother’s name was Darla. I’m not comfortable telling that story yet. For now, I just want to get to know my dad.’ He finished, sensing his father’s discomfort at the mention of his parentage. He was just in time to see Buffy shoot a murderous look at Angel.

Buffy focused; she’d ask later. ‘Dean, your turn.’

Dean shrugged and in his loud, gruff voice said, ‘This is Sammy…’

Sam dropped his head and sighed.

‘Sorry, this is Sam.' Dean said, sarcastically adding an eye roll. 'Ugh, he’s a Hunter. So am I. That means we hunt and kill demons, vampire’s, witches, werewolves and anyone else being a menace to human society. We vanquish ghosts, ghouls, and malicious spirits, Angel’s who’ve gone rogue. Sammy’s a wiz on the computer and all kinds of other stuff as well. Ugh...he's Lucifer’s perfect vessel and I’m Michael’s, but that doesn’t appear to mean anything on Miranda.' he said, waving it away, 'That’s just something we were dealing with before some douche bag kidnapped us, leaving our Mom and Jack stranded.’ He was losing his cool, so he wrapped it up, ‘So, yeah, he’s a smart guy who worries too much. He’s thirty-four, we’re from Kansas. I'm thirty-nine, I like pie and beer. I hate flying, so yeah, that’s going to be interesting. I got zero notion how any of this is going to work.’ He gestured broadly and shook his head, ‘This is Cas. He’s an angel. He’s…how old are you, Cas?’

‘I’ve never considered the question before. I was old when Earth was created.’ Cas answered vaguely.

‘Hold up…’ Faith said, interrupting. ‘What do you mean, he’s an angel?’

Cas turned to an astounded Faith, ‘I’m technically a Seraphim. It’s still an angel, only I’m sort of 'upgraded.' 

‘What’s the difference?’ Rona prompted.

‘Well…I’d say it’s my abilities. I'm able to do things other angels can’t. Although, at this point, I'm unsure of what abilities I do or don’t possess at the moment. I mean, as I told Sam and Dean earlier, I can feel my grace, I'm just don’t know if I'm fully restored.’ 

‘What kind of powers do you possess when you are on Earth.’ Giles asked, curious.

He always knew the correct question to ask, Buffy marveled.

‘I can heal mortal wounds. I can warp reality. I can detect lies and read minds when I focus on them. I can smite beings by revealing my true form to them. That kind of thing.’ Cas answered, casually.

Everyone at the table was focused on Cas. No one was fidgeting or eating or drinking. The room had gone motionless with the shock of being in the presence of a real Angel. 

‘Can you cure diseases?’ Buffy asked hopefully, thinking of Inara.

‘Unfortunately, no. I regret I can’t. Only an Arch-angel can cure disease.’

‘Oh.’ Buffy said, her disappointment heavy.

Cas turned to Jody then, ‘Your turn.’

‘Hi. My name is Jody Mills. Formerly the Sheriff in Sioux Falls, North Dakota. I’m forty-one. I…met Sam and Dean while working a case. Zombies. My husband and son died during case. I’ve since become a Hunter and moved on with my life. Built a new family with these three women. Alex, my daughter, adopted. I took her from some Vampires using her as a blood slave. She’s a nurse. Alex doesn’t Hunt, but she can. I realize you two have souls and we should all feel safe. I’m telling you now, I’ll stake either one of you in an instant, if I think you pose a danger to any one of these girls.’ She said, looking back and forth between Spike and Angel.

‘That won’t be necessary.’ Buffy said, shooting a quelling glance at the woman.

‘Say’s you?’ Claire challenged, not liking the way the ‘Slayer’ was looking at her mother.

‘Yeah. Say’s me.’ Buffy confirmed, 'If anyone needs staking, I'll be the one to do it. And you are?’ She asked, changing the subject and taking the wind out of the girl’s sails.

‘Claire Novack. I’m 20. I’m a Hunter. Friends with Sam and Dean. Jody’s my mom. Cas is wearing my biological father’s body. I was cured of being a werewolf. I’m from Pontiac, Illinois and I’m gay.’ She said in a rush, flicking a glance at Kennedy.

‘There’s a cure for being a werewolf?’ Willow blurted.

‘Yeah, but it has to happen quickly.’ Claire said.

Willow frowned as hope for Oz fled.

When Claire was finished everyone turned to Patience, who blushed furiously.

‘I’m Patience Turner. I’m psychic. I’m 18. I’m new to Jody’s family.’ she shrugged.

‘You’re next.’ Buffy said, pointing at Gunn.

Gunn looked like everyone felt. Defeated, sick, depressed, unhappy.

‘Charles Gunn. Everyone calls me Gunn. From Bad Land’s LA. Used to work with Angel.’ He answered, in a barely audible whisper.

That was all he said. Angel winced.

‘So, earlier today,’ Faith began, clearing the air of introductions, ‘It occurred to Spike we’re an active bunch and we’re used to being able to work out our issues with a little ‘rough and tumble,’ or a good fight. While we’ve had an abundance of stress waiting for you to reanimate, there hasn’t been nearly enough rough and tumble to go around.’ She said, looking at Robin pointedly. ‘Spike and I propose some mock violence. A game if you will. So, while you were all getting ready for dinner, Spike and I took it upon ourselves to remedy the situation.’ She said, motioning for Spike to take over.

‘Let’s tidy up shall we, Kiddies? Then we will take you down.’ He finished.

‘What are you up to?’ Buffy asked.

'Let’s clean up first.’ He grinned.

She stood up, ‘Well, you heard him. Let’s clean up.’ She said, taking her plate to the sink.

Xander was on rinse duty while Spike loaded the dishwasher.

Everyone else pitched in put food away and they were done in minutes. Chatter was stilted, but happening.

Which, as far as Spike was concerned was perfect.

‘If you’re finished, head downstairs. We will meet you in a few minutes.’ Faith instructed.

The drift began slowly, but eventually everyone except her, Spike, Xander and Faith were gone.

Rinsing the washcloth, Xander wrung it and hung it, using his clothes to dry his hands.

‘So, see you downstairs then?’ Xander asked Buffy.

‘I’ll go with you.’ She answered.

Xander gestured, ladies first.

Spike stopped her saying, ‘Ugh, actually, Buffy…can I talk to you for one second?’

Xander sighed and went without her.

‘Sure. What’s up?’ She flirted, hoping he was going to tell her the surprise.

‘You should go up and change your shoes.’ he said, with a gesture at them.

Curiously, she looked at the sandal’s she was wearing, pulled her mouth into an argumentative purse, and contemplated pressing him for answers.

‘Tick tock, Girl.’ He pointed at his wrist, then promised, ‘Trust me, you’re gonna love it!’

‘Okay, weirdo. I’ll be right back.’ She said, giving him her skepticism.

He swatted her behind as she turned to go. She whirled back to take a playful whack at him in retaliation. Expecting it, he slipped an arm around her waist, scooping, then trapping her against the wall. ‘I love you to distraction, Buffy.’ He breathed against her mouth, slipping a hand into her hair, positioning her mouth just so, kissing her so thoroughly, any protest slipped away. When he had his way with her lips, he set the dazed Slayer on her feet.

‘Boots.’ He said, grinning wickedly at her.

Every nerve in her body was attuned to him. ‘You’re in for it later, Mister.’ She yelled at his back.

‘God’s she’s beautiful.’ He thought, adjusting his erection.

Running quickly up the stairs her smile advertised her satisfaction that he was as affected by her and she was of him. Grabbing socks and her boots, she laced them in record time and ran to catch up.

When she yanked open the front door, it was to find Faith waiting for her.

‘Hey.’ She said, caught up short, pulling the door closed.

‘Hey, B.’ Faith smiled. ‘I just wanted to talk with you really quick. I just…See, we are in a situation here and I just want you to know that I am with you. So, see, Spike and I, we ran into each other today and I know that he is all yours. I just wanted to give you a heads up that we spent some time together today. I am totally not trying to get in your way with him. It would be pointless. That boy is mad for you. That’s not the point though, I just wanted you to know that I helped him. I didn’t want you to be taken by surprise. See?’ Faith stammered, trying to explain before the elevator reached the ground.

‘Okay.’ Buffy nodded a bit confused.

‘Okay. Good. So, see, Spike and I have arranged a little stress reliever. Not just that though. These people, well they don’t know who you are. Furthermore, we don’t know who they are. I’m not about trying to teach them a lesson, or anything. That’s not what this is about. This is just about getting to know who these people are. Also, there are lingering issues with everyone. Issues and pent up… frustrations. See? We should, ya know, get a handle on these things before they get out of control.’ Faith spoke quickly.

‘Faith, make a point.’ Buffy said, maintaining her patience, but starting to worry about what they had cooked up.

‘It’s all gonna seem like it’s a game, a way to blow off some steam, but it’s also a genius way to let these people know who’s in charge. Which is in no way me. It’s a playful way to make a point. They need to understand that whether they like it not, there is a power structure in place.’ She knew she’d just totally botched the explanation from the angry look on Buffy’s face.

The elevator door opened.

‘What have you two done?’ Buffy demanded, hands on her hips.

‘Let’s go and have some fun!’ Faith said, ignoring her, stepping out of the elevator.

‘Wait…’Buffy said, suspiciously. ‘What. Did. You. Do?’

‘It’s just a Nerf War, B. Come on! It’s gonna be great!’ Faith pulled away.

Buffy watched her go calling after her, ‘Nerf war? What the hell is a Nerf War?’

Faith stopped before getting to the front door, turning back to her. ‘You don’t know what a Nerf War is?’ Faith asked, astounded.

Buffy shook her head.

‘Nerf guns?’ Faith questioned.

‘You mean those toys, right?’ Buffy asked.

An excited grin split Faith's lovely face and her eyes sparkled. ‘Yeah!’ she nodded.

Understanding dawned, and Buffy’s grin matched Faiths.

‘That’s sneaky…and really smart. Good job!’ Buffy praised.

‘I know, right! Now, let’s go and have some fun.’ Faith prompted.

‘By the way…’ Buffy said, once more getting Faith’s attention, ‘Nice pants.’

A true smile lit in Faith’s eyes. ‘Want some?’ she grinned.

‘Duh!’ Buffy answered.

‘Tomorrow. Shopping for sure.’ Faith said.


	37. Thirty-Seven

**Thirty-Seven**

Flowing out the big glass doors fronting the building in a rush, Faith and Buffy joined the others just in time to hear Spike finish explaining the evenings activity. Almost every single person there stared in blank confusion.

Except for Kennedy who actually bounced on the balls of her feet in anticipation and Andrew observed uncomfortably, ‘It’s just like summer camp.’

‘…so, nothing inside houses, nothing hidden too well. It’s all out in the open. Balls of all shapes and sizes and foam-covered sparring equipment. Nerf Guns in every size, shape, and color imaginable. Paintball guns, but you have to search a bit harder. Backpacks with assorted contents, but not all. Random piles of clips laying out in the open. Indoors is off limits. No teams. Partner with one person, but ‘no teams.’ No hitting above the shoulders. Every man for himself.’ Spike grinned, wickedly, finishing with a, ‘Right, then…’

‘Any questions?’ Faith asked.

No one said a word.

Taking the silence as his cue, Spike took Buffy’s hand and began pulling her away from the group.

Faith followed, calling over her shoulder, ‘In bounds are the first five blocks and the park at the west end of the streets. You won’t find any supplies after that.’

The motionless group watched them run away.

Faith stopped, took a few steps back toward them, her hands stretched out asking the question, ‘what are you doing?’ Spurring them to action she taunted them with a finger pointed at Spike, ‘Don’t just stand there! He’s going to get all of the good stuff!’ When it looked like Connor might finally understand his roll in the evening, she pushed at Buffy, and said, ‘Go!’ Grinning at Angel, as she spun away.

Stymied, the group remained still, watching them run away.

Connor, elbowed Angel and peeled away from the group as Faith, already a block ahead, pulled up a ‘Nerf Blaster’ and rapid fired every foam dart in the gun at Spike's bleach blond head. He yelled indignantly as the projectiles peppered the back of his head and fell to the ground bouncing away.

‘Nothing above the shoulders!’ He reminded her indignantly.

With certainty, the spirit of the game finally settled over the on lookers.

‘Go!’ Connor urged, hearing the group behind them scramble into action.

'That got everyone moving.' Faith laughed, as they jogged South. With a wave she broke away, 'See ya later.' Skirting behind a hedge row, she hung back to watch as the 'troops' ran past her, chattering as they went. Just as she and Spike predicted, they clustered.

‘Take the strong one’s first and the weak will sort themselves.’ She mused, while spying. 

Gunn, brought up the rear and she wasn’t surprised. While he sauntered toward her, she took stock. Anyone thinking the man was weak, was stupid. He didn’t acknowledge her as he sauntered, just quick flick of his eyes in passing. Cas appeared out of nowhere while she considered Gunn and she jerked in surprise, almost punching him in the face.

‘So much for the covert information gathering and a working theory on powers.’ She thought with a snort. Then, playing off the fact he knew she was lurking, she asked, ‘Aren’t you going to play?’

‘I…don’t think it would be fair for me to participate.’ The angel explained, ignoring her attempt at subterfuge, watching Gunn’s retreating form.

Faith nodded, ‘Maybe. Come on, you can watch with me.’

During the short exchange Angel and Connor slithered silently away from the group between two houses. Cas followed, feeling uneasy about what could happen with this girl later. If he talked to her about now, it could buy unnecessary trouble, so he stayed quiet and smiled at the Noobs, already a block West, laughing, screaming their heads off and shooting foam darts at each other, the distinctive “poof” from the air rifles a dead giveaway to their location.

Slipping silently into the space between the same two houses Angel and Connor chose to disappear in moments earlier, Faith and Cas crept up on them. Connor took aim as Angel ‘spotted’ for him. Faith waited for the tell-tale “poof” and subsequent howl before taking a swipe at Connors head and ruffling the boy’s hair.

‘Nice shot, but you better watch out kid! I was just able to sneak up here and I’m not too happy with you stealing my battle partner.’ She teased, eyes glittering with mirth.

‘Yeah, well…’ He stopped short, unable to finish his retort.

Faith had pushed by him with an obviously playful, non-aggressive nudge, but as she pivoted away, distracting him with signature Slayer smack talk, she lifted the paintball gun right out of his hands. Connor, caught up in the game, distracted, and searching for a rebuttal, wasn’t prepared when Faith took aim and shot him with his own gun. The paint ball splatted him right in the center of his chest. Stunned that she had shot him, his hand flew to his chest and swiped at the paint. Neon orange paint smeared over his fingers mocked him. The promise of revenge glared out at her from across the ten feet that separated them and he was ‘almost’ able to launch himself at her, before she shot him two more times. Complete surprised rooted him to the spot until she wiggled her eyebrows at him in a taunt so dismissive, the spell was broken and he charged. 

Spinning away with a, ‘HA!’ she ran.

Connor yelled insults at her back.

Angel stood, grinning after them, about to remind his son it wasn’t nice to call people names, but the boy was actually playing and for a breath, Angel was happy. Until he remembered he couldn’t afford to be and sobered.

Cas nodded at Gunn watching the exchange from a rocking chair on the porch two houses from the corner. Gunn gave a slight wave of his hand to Cas, who cut away to follow Angel. Cas considered the Gunn situation while trailing after the group he’d chosen to align himself with. Presently, the warrior hearted, yet broken man consumed with taking his punishment, fondly remembered the times he fed infant Connor, or rocked him to sleep while living at the ‘Hyperion.’ Cas noted those memories triggered subsequent memories of everything that followed and it was decidedly unpleasant. He contemplated going back to sit with him and offer what insight he could, but was rather suddenly dragged behind a hedge and ordered to ‘duck.’

Two blocks to the south, Buffy and Spike stopped at two story, old fashioned red brick ranch home. Thick, Flowering Wisteria covered the deep latticed front porch, most of the roof, and a tall shade tree at the side of the yard. If they were in the woods instead of a city, it would’ve been impossible to detect the house. Spike climbed the vines covering the side of the house and hoisted himself onto the roof.

‘What are you doing?’ Buffy yelled at him in a whisper.

Dragging his fingers across his mouth in the universal sign for, ‘zip it!’ he pointed at the base of the tree she stood next to, then motioned for her to ‘get up the tree!’ Understanding him, she nodding at him seriously, fully engaged in the game. Running her fingers across her mouth echoing his zipping motion, she grabbed the backpack at the base of the tree, dragged it on and shimmied herself upward and into position.

‘Now what?’ she asked, not bothering to whisper since no one was around.

Spike, she noted finally, wasn’t teasing her a moment ago. He was taking ‘the game’ seriously. Scowling, he pointed at her shoulders and mimed unzipping the pack. Buffy pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. In a town where the only thing to do was, nothing, worry, and eat green leafy vegetables, she was eternally grateful for her boyfriend putting in overtime to keep her entertained. Unzipping the pack, she considered the notion she should do the same. Reaching inside she pulled out a truly giant Nerf ‘clip,’ loaded with red tipped orange foam bullets. It wasn’t the only one. The bag was completely full of the clips and two smaller ‘handgun’ style Nerf pistols. Holding one of the pistols above her head, she shook it victoriously, remembering to stay quiet.

Spike gave her a thumbs up, then pointed over her head.

Twisting her body into a position that wouldn’t see her falling thirty feet out of a tree proved to be a delicate undertaking, but she managed it. Wedged in between two large branches was an orange and yellow monstrosity that had to be at least twelve inches tall. Looking back at Spike she shrugged and showed him her pistol again. He vigorously shook his head and pointed at the bag motion his hands in a way that looked like he was saying ‘ball.’ Buffy didn’t lose her patience with the lack of talking; she just dug deeper into the bag and finally saw what he wanted her to see. A round drum the size of a basketball rested in the bottom of the bag. Shaking her head at him she couldn’t help but laugh. Pulling the ‘monstrosity’ from its perch, she dropped the strap over her head and let the bright orange gun rest against her side.

There was nothing left to do now but wait.

Her position gave her a clear view of the immediate surroundings. Everything to the end of the street and one block north and south of her position was easily viewed. Beyond that she had partial view of anything not blocked by over growth. Having a clear view of the roof Spike was on, she could see he cleared away the vines covering the roof, from the slanted pitch that to the flat surface covering the back porch, clear of twisting mass. Boxes and buckets of every size and sort lined the open space behind the dormers. Spike’s location was strategically brilliant and he smirked at her open perusal of his ‘set up,’ the glint of competition shining in his eyes. Bouncing a tennis ball on a racket, he waited in patient silence for the fun to begin. Belatedly, she realized he was going to use the tennis balls instead of the oddly shaped, black Nerf guns propped against the dormer. Worry creased her face and she thought about protesting the tennis balls, but didn’t, opting to trust him.

Instead, she allowed herself to be distracted by the early evening sun glinting off of the lake in the distance. Everything about Miranda was unique and beautiful in its own way and still managed to remind her of home.

Voices pulled her attention back to the street below.

One block north, Jody and Alex skulked around the side of an enormous, yellow brick house. Andrew and Xander drew her attention running past her position moments before and were now stopped in front of the yellow house, arguing loudly with each other. That was another thing about Miranda. It was so quiet voices carried quite a distance. On the opposite side of the house, Patience and Claire were already in position. Buffy saw it all and knew exactly how it would go down.

‘Xander’s about to get his butt kicked.’ She thought, shaking her head.

Alex put a finger to her lips and pointed toward the back of the house. Jody nodded and they tip toed away. Seconds later, they moved in behind Patience and Claire, creeping up on them. Patience nearly gave them away when Alex silently tapped on her on the shoulder.

‘What are you doing here?’ Patience scolded in a whisper, reminding them ‘We’re only supposed to be in twos.’

‘Psh…whatever. Who says we have to follow their rules?’ Claire scoffed.

Jody frowned, informing her daughter, ‘It’s a game, Claire. Follow the rules or it’s cheating.’

Claire smirked and rolled her eyes, but the four stuck together, peaking around the corner.

Patience stifled a giggle observing silently that, ‘Xander looks ridiculous and adorable.’ Arguing with each other loudly, the guys attempted to strap on protective gear. The little one, ‘Andrew’ she reminded herself, had two ‘ammo belts’ criss crossed over his chest, a’la every spaghetti western ever made. A bright blue and neon orange, Nerf shotgun wedged between his feet, pointed ‘business end’ up. Xander wore a black and neon green bike helmet and he was adjusting the straps on Andrew’s ammo belts so they hung comfortably around the little dude’s body. He stopped abruptly and turned sharply toward the stifled giggle, drawing his attention. Patience clapped her hand over her mouth as added protection, but it was a near thing. The picture they presented was ridiculous. Alex yanked her away from the opening and pushed her to the back of the huddle.

Xander projected a penetrating glare over the immediate area. When he was satisfied no one was around, he went back to Andrew’s ammo belts. Andrew however, was on alert the moment Xander’s hands had stilled and hadn’t stopped levering air into his toy shotgun. Remaining alert as Xander spun him to face away while continuing to work on the ammo belt.

Jody watched, thinking, ‘These guys might look like buffoon’s, but they’ve seen serious action.’

Recognizing Andrew’s matter of fact chatter for the nervous energy it was, she knew it was also a distraction. His eyes never stopped roaming while he spoke with stilted authority on a subject in which she and her girls had argued many times.

‘I’m just saying, we never even see John Connor in action. We’re just told by Arnold and Kyle Reese he’s a bad ass.’ Continuously pumping air into the gun, he drove his point, ‘Ricco, on the other hand was the real deal.’ Andrew argued confidently.

Xander disagreed, spinning Andrew to face him once again. ‘Johnny Ricco was a love-sick fool who lost his girl to a fly boy named Xander.’ He said, giving his friend the ‘duh’ face and asked pointedly, ‘How’s that for irony?’

‘Well…OW!’ Andrew swore, loudly. Caught by surprise, he dropped his gun and his hand flew to his head. Whatever argument he was about to make died as another blue foam; orange tipped Nerf bullet blasted him in the ear. Again, he exclaimed, ‘OW!’

Xander twisted in the direction the foam bullet came from, acknowledging his instincts too late.

Andrew instinctively stepped behind Xander’s big frame and they were instantly peppered by a rainbow of foam projectiles. Xander spun away in retreat to search for a better battle position, only to be hampered by Andrew who was practically standing on top of him. Rolling off of Andrew’s body in a football move, he simultaneously reached out to grab a handful of his friends’ shirt and yanked him along.

‘John Carter was tougher than either of those guys!’ Claire yelled, laughing uproariously.

‘Who’s John Carter?’ Andrew gasped curiously, running as fast as he could.

The gang of women gave chase firing foam bullets wildly until their victory was cut short by tennis ball. Spike struck Claire squarely between the shoulder blades, followed by two more in quick succession. Barely having time to register the first ball, she cast a seeking glance for the culprit when the next two hit her in quick succession. ‘Hey! Knock it off!’ she demanded.

Jody grabbed Claire, hauling her and her other girls back around the side of the house, only to have Rona and Vi greet them. Claire wrongly assumed it was one of them who nailed her with the tennis balls and she leveled them a promise of retribution, before all-out warfare ensued.

Vi let loose a blood curdling scream that startled everyone and fired her Nerf ‘Carpet Bomber’ with abandon. Quickly out of bullets, Rona took over while Vi reloaded. Jody and Claire exhausted their magazines, but were no match for the awesome power of the Carpet Bombers and beat a hasty retreat back through the tunnel they were stuck in. Rona gave chase when Vi, reloaded, shouted ‘Go!’ They got lucky. Vi having to reload kept them from running into the ‘thunderstorm’ of balls raining down on the Mills family.

‘Looks like an episode of Benny Hill.’ Spike snorted, hurling five more tennis balls.

Pouring from between the houses, believing they were trapped, the women stumbled about in comic confusion trying to shield themselves from the onslaught of tennis balls and racket balls raining down on them.

‘Look! On the roof. Bleach Boy! Get him!’ Alex exclaimed.

Buffy stopped trying to stifle her giggles at the blitzkrieg. Watching Spike actually have ‘fun’ was mesmerizing and something she had really never seen before. Life was always so, ya know… ‘So!’ There was never time for fun ‘before,’ but since Miranda, she saw a side of him daily she had no idea existed. Yeah, circumstances were stressful and majorly screwed up, but she was happy with him. He ‘got’ her and they were happy together. That happiness was transforming him into someone else. Sure, he was a vicious killer, but there were also all of these ‘other’ things about him… Like, bouncing balls littered the street and her Vampire oozing joy because of it. The gig was up, though. His buckets stood empty and he mocked the women for being ‘panzie wanzies,’ going so far as to taunt them with, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ They answered his challenges with ridiculous taunts of their own.

Securing her pack and Nerf weaponry, she inched out the long branch she was perched on then jumped onto the roof with Spike, realizing they were going to have to run when then indignant, gang of women began gathering Spike’s ammunition cash from them street.

Calling out a few more choice insults, he cackled and when Claire hurled a racket ball at him.

The ball whizzed inches past her ear, fluffing her hair as it rocketed by.

‘Hey! Nothing in the face!’ he protested.

Happily, she was wrong about Spike being out of ‘ammo.’ Five more buckets of balls were set into the alcove of the roof. Sending the blond girl a glare, Buffy hurled several balls at Claire to avenge her floofed hair. She missed with every single one. Before she could try again, balls began to rain down on her and Spike. Taking cover, she looked at Spike for a plan, but Spike couldn’t have cared less. Racket balls and tennis balls bounced steadily off of his head while he poured bright pink paint balls into the reservoir of one of the three, what she now knew to be paintball rifles, stashed on the roof. Handing her the loaded paintball blaster, he got to work loading the next one. When it was finished, he handed it off to her.

Curious about why the they were no longer being pelted with tennis balls, he crawled up the roof and popped his head up over the ridge. A blunted arrow immediately nailed him right in the middle of his forehead!

‘Aye!’ he shouted indignantly, standing up on the crest of the roof, hands doing as much talking as his mouth he accused, ‘You coulda put my eye out! Nothing above the shoulders! It’s in the rules!’

The women cheered victorious and began hurling balls again.

‘You’re the one who gave them arrows! Bad idea!’ Buffy hissed. Unhappy about it, she climbed to the ridge and yelled, 'No one shoots my boyfriend in the face!'

In the street, the enemy was grouped together and emboldened, firing foam bullets, blunted arrows, and tennis balls at the roof. Claire, caught up in the heat of battle, surged ahead of the others. The pretty, determined blond let loose a warrior’s yell and unloaded on them.

‘It’s her doom!’ Buffy said, pulling the Nerf off of her back, taking aim. While sitting in the tree, she pumped so much air into the full auto Nerf she would be able to empty it without stopping to add more air before the clip ran dry. White foam bullets with blue tips snowed down on Claire like a blizzard.

Spike chuckled at her pomposity and fished the next drum from her pack.

Claire, not realizing the classic mistake she had made, skidded to a halt, pulled her mega blaster into firing position and pulled the trigger. Jody however, knew what was about to happen and yelled for Claire to ‘come back!’ but she didn’t listen. Two darts flew lamely from Claire’s blaster. Not only had she made the classic mistake of failing to reload, she hadn’t primed her hand cannon with air and for that tragic mistake, she was being pelted mercilessly with foam. Dropping to the ground, she covered her head and curled into a ball to no avail.

From the cover of their hedge row, Faith and Castiel watched Claire pay for her mistake.

‘That’s unfortunate.’ Cas deadpanned.

‘Girl is reckless.’ Faith observed.

‘Agreed.’ Cas said, his worrying expression reading the statement as obvious.

‘She’s got heart though.’ Faith allowed, ‘Probably best to have her on your side when something pops off.’

Alex and Jody reached Claire as Buffy’s Nerf ran dry.

Spike, began to bombard the women with tennis balls again.

Cas nodded and winced as a racket ball bounced off of Claire’s head.

Alex dropped to one knee, covering her sister. ‘Hurry! She’s reloading! Hear it?’ She barked.

Jody pulled Claire from the ground and Alex waited for Spike to show himself.

Spike was helping Buffy insert a new drum into her Nerf.

Pointing at the notch on the drum he instructed, ‘Notch, slide here till it clicks, pump, shoot. Got it?’

Buffy nodded, slid the drum out, reassembled so she understood, and cocked her ‘weapon.’

‘Good.’ Spike grinned, pulling his paintball gun off his back. ‘Ready Joan?’

Grinning like a maniac, she laughed, ‘Ready Randy.’

While Buffy pumped air into the Nerf, Spike let the pretty nurse covering her family have it, starting at her ankles, working his way up, and ending with her chin. Deadly accurate and having a great time, he was completely out of paintballs in seconds.

‘Oh! Damn…’ Faith breathed, in amused fascination.

The three women were now covered in neon pink dots and could only retreat while Buffy peppered them with foam darts. Without warning, Buffy was struck on the temple with a rubber ball. Spike, having smelled the new threat too late, grabbed the Slayer and spun with her, the next ball hitting his back.

Connor and Angel, having split away from Faith and Cas skirted the side of the house with Buffy’s tree. Connor’s aim was hella accurate! Spike’s attention now drawn away from the street in front of the house, saw that Dean, Sam, and Robin inched their way closer from the West. If Connor and Angel weren’t on ‘their’ side, they were going to be trapped. Spike dropped to his ass, pulled Buffy on top of him, and slid down the roofs incline on his butt.

‘What…!’ a startled Buffy exclaimed.

Faith waited all of two seconds after seeing Robin, to step from behind the hedge. Pinning the trio down with a penetrating stare, she pointed threateningly, ‘Don’t make me open a can of whoop ass on you guys.’ Stalling the guys long enough for Jody and her girls to make it back to the cover of the yellow brick house and collect themselves.

Robin stopped moving instantly holding halting arms out in front of Sam and Dean on either side of him. It effectively stopped their forward motion. Not taking his eyes from the Slayer, he warned the brothers, ‘She’s not armed.’

‘Sounds like her problem.’ Dean grinned.

‘You ever fought a Slayer?’ Robin asked, skeptically.

‘Ugh…’ Dean offered.

‘Exactly.’ Robin said, taking two steps back. His arms forcing the brothers to retreat as well. ‘We should go this way.’ He said, turning them South, toward the laughter and screams coming from the next block.

Faith flicked her eyes toward the space between the yellow brick and the blue tile next door. Jody and the girls weren’t there. Cas stepped out from behind the hedge and looked at her curiously.

‘Come on, Handsome.’ She said, following the guys she just driven away, but keeping well back.

‘Spike! Listen…’ Buffy said, as their feet hit the ground.

‘Now it’s a party.’ He grinned. The screaming wasn’t more than a hundred yards away.

Handing her a paintball gun, he said, ‘Let’s go let em have it, Pet.’

She looked at him dumbly, ‘I don’t know how to use this thing!

‘Flip this switch, aim, pull the trigger.’ He instructed, pointing at the appropriate parts.

‘Oh…’ she nodded, but didn’t have time to ask any more questions. Grabbing her hand, Spike yanked her into motion. The trees in the yard were rustling. That meant danger.

‘Dean!’ Sam yelled, pointing at them.

The Hunter looked and saw the Slayer and her boyfriend creeping away. Dean wasted no time, he pulled his rifle and gave chase, crashing through the overgrown foliage. Buffy, unused to running from anything chasing her, planted her feet jerking Spike to a halt and pulled her rifle to the ready.

Spike, knowing better than to argue, followed her lead.

‘Don’t wait for them to break cover before you start shooting.’ He instructed. ‘I don’t know how many pellets are in here. Gun fighting is different that ‘regular’ fighting. We have to shoot, then move, then shoot then move, until we find cover or get away. You aren’t used to using guns, they are, so when they take cover, we move.’

‘Got it.’ Buffy answered. She could see Dean just inside the over grown garden, pushing through the branches of some kind of ornamental tree. ‘You take the brothers, I have Robin.’

‘Fine…’ Spike complained, shooting Robin on the hand two or three times anyway.

‘Ow!’ Robin yelped.

Buffy rolled her eyes and open fired on Robin. Spike snorted and switched targets.

Dean was covered in bright pink paint splats before he could break free from the foliage. The Hunter scowled lumbering into the yard instead of taking cover.

She and Spike were in big trouble! Making up her mind fast, she braced her booted feet and unloaded on Dean who kept coming.

‘Run!’ Spike growled.

Buffy did, spinning away and taking off while Spike covered her. Dean began to run at him and Spike fled. Fortunately for them, Dean relied on firepower and not cardio to fight. Robin was still unable to do any prolonged running. Sam however, with those long legs of his was able to keep up quite a while. Even though he was covered in paint, it took longer than she expected to lose him. Handing the now empty rifle to Spike, she was breathing hard and happily grinning her face off. She hadn’t realized how much she needed something like this!

‘Thank you.’ She breathed, ‘You’re a genius!’ Grabbing him by the neck, she kissed him.

‘No time now, Pet!’ he said, pulling away. Quickly refilling the rifle, he handed it back and instructed, ‘Put it on.’

Dean finally caught up to his brother and they were close. His gruff voice echoed between the houses as they called to each other, moving through the neighborhood. They were actively ‘hunting’ them. She and Spike were on a corner, next to a recharging station and a convenience store when Dean yelled, “Where are they, Sam? They are both so dead!” he vowed. Buffy chuckled, took a long drink of water from the pouch in her bag, passed it to Spike and said, ‘I thought we were goners a few times. Paintballs mean nothing to him. I wonder if he’s the same about real bullets?’

‘Safe to say his is. Bloke is a bloody nightmare of resolve.’ Spike retorted.

‘Where are they?’ Kennedy yelled!

‘Where the heck did she come from?’ Buffy groaned.

‘Come on!’ Spike uttered; panic tinging his voice. Jerking her into motion, the paintball gun he refilled for her, clattered to the pavement. Bending to retrieve it she was hauled upright.

‘Leave it!’ he commanded, ‘I know where there’s another.’

‘That’s cheating!’ she insisted.

‘Duh! Vampire!’ he reminded her, pointing up the block. ‘This way.’

One street ahead, Andrew and Xander burst around a corner and began firing on Rona and Vi.

Kennedy ran toward the guys, firing a paintball rifle at them.

Rona took an irritated swipe at Violet, ‘Stop that screaming!’

Vi, shocked, cut off the comic screaming immediately, but it was too late. The fledgling Slayer had already hoisted her rifle and fired at Xander as if the darts magically replenished themselves. Any second now, she would be facing down Hunters, bulletless.

The ‘Mills Contingent’ stumbled into the street and began firing away just as haphazardly. From Buffy’s position, some three blocks South, the myriad of foam darts looked like confetti on New Year’s Eve at Time Square. They were having a blast, pun intended, and it warmed her heart to watch it. Spike turned to pull her away again, but saw her face. Instead of retreating, he pulled her toward the battle and soon, they were in the middle of the firestorm and having a glorious time.

Spike stopped batting the projectiles away and simply watched his Slayer. She had instantly become the target of everyone. Buffy, channeling the Arnold in her, planted her feet wide and began to mow down Slayers with abandon, not even bothering to take aim. She emptied the last drum in her pack, easily a hundred and fifty foam darts, in less than thirty seconds! All the while hurling her best insults at them, ‘Take that, you bunch of baby girl Slayers!’ Okay, so maybe they weren’t her best insults.

As soon as the drum ran dry, she dropped it and ran. Spike provided cover with the paint ball gun.

Technically that was cheating while the others were using Nerf, but… ‘Vampire.’

The screaming started again and everyone except Kennedy, scattered.

Kennedy pulled a bow off her back and gave chase along with the Winchesters, who arrived late to the party. Spike sprinted after Buffy, picking up his pace as an arrow fell short and clattered to the pavement behind him. Reaching Buffy, he grabbed her with one arm, hoisted her over his shoulder and fled, using his Vampire speed.

The Winchesters were busy with the horde of teenagers, but it was Kennedy he didn’t trust. Best not to put the girl to the test. Buffy was having fun and he didn’t want the chit to ruin it. Hurtling over the recharging station as they passed it again, he saw Connor and Angel coming up the street. He didn’t stop to see what side they were on. Behind him, he heard Claire yell, ‘Get them!’

Buffy was laughing so hard tears poured from her eyes when he stopped. He didn’t go far, thankfully, because he’d jounced her around so much, she was about to break into pieces. Ducking quietly into a back yard that was obviously a child’s dream, pool, tree house, swing set, everything a kid could want, Spike hauled her from his shoulder and set her on her feet. Taking her hand, he spun her out to the end of his fingertips. ‘So you don’t think I’m all caveman.’ He grinned, rolling her back to him again in a ballroom dance move. When she met his chest, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him for all she was worth. Climbing up his body, she rested her knees on his hip bones pulling his hair in order to bring his head far enough back to loot his mouth with her own. Sliding his hands under her rear to support her, he let her have her way with him. When they were in danger of pulling off all of their clothes in the middle of the yard, she pulled her mouth away from his.

‘I love you.’ She said breathlessly.

Sliding down his body, making sure to rub every inch of her against him, she bit the corner of her lip and looked at him through her lower lashes once her feet hit the ground, about to ask him if he ‘wanted to’ but blessedly held off a beat.

‘Oh, Slayer. You…are very good at being naughty.’ He growled, teasingly. He loved this game.

She tilted her head and actually batted her eyelashes at him and playfully spun away from him.

He watched that tight little ass of hers twitch away from him and called, ‘Oy! Where you going?’

Stopping, she grinned wickedly, ‘You started it…’ she began, but faltered.

Angel and Connor stood in the open gate.

Spike saw the trepidation and turned to see what was making her so uncertain.

‘Angel…’ he swore, silently. ‘You get your eyes full, Mate?’ Spike challenged, visibly annoyed.

Angel ignored him, never taking his eyes from Buffy.

Even though she was blushing furiously, she spun her paintball rifle to aim at Connor.

Angel’s son had his Nerf gun pointed at Spike.

It wasn’t a Nerf to be taken lightly. It was enormous. Bigger than the one she had been using. It had four drums attached to the bottom. There were probably 500 darts in those drums! Looking from Connor to Angel and back at Connors Nerf gun again, her eyebrows hit her hair line, the question on obvious, ‘This is your kid?’ It said, in amusement. 

Angel never wavered, but his eyes shone back at the question with pride and unconditional love.

Buffy noted Angel never gave anything away willingly, but it was always there in his eyes if you knew what to look for. In the next second, Faith and Castiel flowed into the yard from the side of the corner store looking like a couple of bad asses. Castiel’s tan overcoat bellowed out behind him and Faith’s leather pants fit her like a second skin. Neither of them had a weapon of any kind, visible, and it made them look extra bad-assy. The tense atmosphere of the standoff with Connor was over with their arrival.

‘Where are they?’ Angel asked, pulling his eyes from Buffy’s.

Connor dropped his gun at his father’s query.

‘Two blocks.’ Spike answered. 

‘What’s the plan?’ Connor asked.

‘Cas and I are just observing, so don’t count us in.’ Faith answered.

They nodded their acceptance. It was only right that a representative from each side observe.

‘Follow me.’ Spike said, holding his hand out to Buffy. She took it and he pushed their way through the gate, the others followed. Spike was headed for the small playground four blocks North where some of the players were already congregated. Instead of heading back into the battle already raging, they skirted around to the next block West and made their way from there, talking as they went. 

Xander made it to the playground before they did. ‘In here!’ he wheezed, as he and Andrew ran through the open gate in front of them. It was a tiny playground, surrounded by tall hedges that were so popular throughout the entire neighborhood.

Willow and Giles sat on swings, trailing their toes through the grass chatting amiably.

Giles was explaining that in an effort to reduce carbon emissions through composting and grooming, the grass as well as the trees, flowers and other types of landscaping were genetically designed for stunted growth. Which was how the planet could be vacant for twenty years, but still not utterly over grown even though it was somewhat over grown.

‘Okay, but what about the soccer field we saw and this grass here?’ she persisted.

‘Yes, believe it or not, it’s fake turf.’ Giles replied.

‘Huh…’ she said, ‘Seems, real…’ she trailed off at the ruckus her best friend since kindergarten and Andrew made clamoring through the gate and hauling it shut behind them. Plowing into each other abruptly, they swept their eyes over the ground and equipment in the enclosed area.

Andrew’s mouth dropped open. The playground was littered with hundreds of ‘weapons.’ Nerf guns in every shape and size, paintball guns of every variety, boxing gloves, fencing foils, staffs with big pillows on the ends, actual pillows, foam nunchucks, balls of every imaginable shape and size, and to his amusement toy bow and arrows some with suction cups others with foam balls on the end of the arrows.

‘Hey, guys!’ Willow called.

Xander spun to her.

‘I see you’ve been enjoying yourselves.’ Giles cracked, taking in their paint splattered clothing.

‘Those ‘girls’ are vicious!’ Andrew exclaimed, pointing a rattled finger through the now open gate.

Claire and Alex burst through the gate, laughing and promising retribution. However, their attention was drawn away from a frantic, astounded Andrew and on to the new commotion coming from the opposite gate. Sam and Dean crowded into the playground loaded for bear and looking ridiculous.

‘Well, well, well. Who do we have here?’ Dean swaggered in comically, looking over the scene. The Hunters thumbs were tucked into the band of his ‘gun belt.’ He wore a double holster, Nerf belt in lime green. White, blue, and orange pistols that reminded Andrew of R2D2 rested in the holsters. Much like Andrew, he wore a criss crossing ammo belt across his chest only his was full of bullets and Andrew’s was empty. Two giant shot guns stuck out of the back pack he wore and Sam, carried a Carpet Bomber.

‘Ugh, it’s me, Willow.’ The witch answered. ‘And, ugh, this is Giles and Xander. You just met us. Remember?’ Willow stammered nervously, casting a glance at her two-foam bullet pea shooter.

Sam looked at his brother and shrugged skeptically, ‘I don’t remember these people. You?’

‘Nope!’ Dean boomed, palming a shotgun and cocking it.

Buffy, Spike, Angel and Connor came through the front gate just in time to see Willow reply.

‘So, you two huh? Well, you don’t look so tough.’ Willow said with bravado.

Sliding off the swing, she pointing her pea shooter at Dean who promptly doubled over with mirth.

‘Well…we...’ Dean’s laughing reply was cut short and he rolled his shoulder reflexively.

Giles had followed Willow’s lead, sliding off of his swing and pulling out the huge, fully auto, two-barrel Nerf Super Blaster strapped across his back. It was the calm before the storm.

Dean looked over Giles' massive Nerf gun and he elbowed Sam. ‘The Librarian ain’t playin. Don’t take your eye off of the witch.’

‘Yeah, well, we’ve all heard about tough guys before, right Giles.’ Willow prompted for back up.

‘Yes. Exactly.’ Giles concurred with a nervous nod, shooting her a quick glance.

Spike swung to look askance at Buffy, who had a hand clamped over her mouth to keep from giggling. It was sort of awesome. ‘When did Red grow a set of danglies?’ he whispered. Willow looked hilariously formidable with her two shot, bright red pea shooter pointed at Dean, staring him down and Giles’ backing her up.

‘Willow’s always had…never mind. Pay attention!’ she hushed.

Typically, Andrew took a worried step back, putting Xander between himself, the brothers, and the next uproarious wave approaching the playground. He winced at the screeching noise of teenage girls running into the enclosed space as if the Devil himself chased them.

‘They’re coming!’ Violet caterwauled.

It wasn’t the Devil, it was Oz and Robin, growling like hyenas.

Robin shouted, 'Wrong! We're here!'

‘Excuse me!’ Dean boomed, regaining their attention, ‘We were in the middle of something here!’

Willow, having sensed Oz was coming had turned away from her standoff with Dean to look for him when the screaming Slayers came bursting into the yard. When Dean’s booming voice rang out over the enclosed space, she jerked in surprised, pulled the trigger on the pea shooter and landed a perfect shot, right on the end of Dean’s nose. Willow, startled, dropped the tiny gun, her mouth forming a perfect O as it toppled to the ground.

Oz grinned as the expression of shock took root on Willow's adorable face and intense longing washed over him.

'Oh...now you are in for it!' Dean promised, and took aim.

Both Oz and Kennedy moved at the same time. Kennedy launched herself at Dean and Oz put his body between Willows and Deans. Kennedy reached Dean in two beats, but not before he shot her twice. She kicked the shot gun out of his hand, beamed him in the forehead with a racket ball.

The girl was fast.

Sam dropped back to cover Dean, but it was too late. They were already in hand-to-hand combat. Rona pointed her Nerf shot gun at him, pulled the trigger, and blasted him right in his man parts. He gasped, ‘Ugh!’ and promptly fell over before getting off a single shot.

‘Yeah? Well, guess what?’ She taunted him walking away, ‘We ain’t never heard of you either!’

‘Oh my God! Rona! What the hell?’ Violet yelled, laughing despite her shock.

‘So not cool…’ Andrew mumbled, in commiseration with the groaning Sam.

The next several things happened simultaneously.

Claire, sticking up for her ‘brothers’ unloaded on Rona. 

Faith and Cas strolled into the playground just in time to see Sam on the ground, hand between his legs groaning while Dean, being pelted with foam bullets while fighting Kennedy yelled, ‘Are you going to live? If you are, I could use some help here!'

Claire, startled by Faith’s proximity whirled on the Slayer and fired two shots at her, both of which she battled harmlessly away, merely raising an eyebrow at the younger girl, but that was all it took.

In the next breath, it was total pandemonium.

Foam bullets rained down on every surface in the tiny space.

It was Buffy’s turn to watch so she did.

Faith, went straight for Claire, thinking it was time the girl learned some discipline. Patience tried to help her sister, landing a blow here and there, but Faith tired of it quickly and swept the girls legs, taking her down. Two minutes in, Faith decided she did like the scrappy little brat and took it easy on her, simply enjoying the fight. 

Dean was finally able to help Sam off the ground as Alex occupied Kennedy. The Hunter gingerly adjusted himself then joined the fray. When the entire assemblage was covered head to toe in multi colored dots and the foam bullets were exhausted, balls of every size from ping pong to basket flew through the air. Later, no one could recall who picked up the first foam covered staff, but soon all of the balls had been batted out of the park and the hand-to-hand combat started in earnest. 

Willow and Xander played at sword fighting with the fencing foils while Andrew and Giles stood by cheering one or the other on good naturedly. Castiel joined Buffy in watching after a few moments and tossed balls back into play. Kennedy and Vi shot each other with Nerf bullets from less than three feet away while tears of laughter poured down their faces. Exhausting themselves through the last two hours of shenanigans, the participants began to drop to the ground one by one heaving in great lungs of air, and wiping their eyes.

Soon, all that were left in the game were the big guns and Buffy joined the sparing.

‘I’m not sure that this should go on much longer.’ Cas said to Giles worriedly.

‘Nonsense. Look at them. They are having a wonderful bit of fun.’ Giles disagreed.

Angel zeroed in on Gunn and advanced. Gunn saw him coming and picked up two foam covered batons and settled into battle stance. Angel shocked everyone, attacking with full force. Gunn parried the first five blows, but Angel landed his sixth, knocking Gunn to the ground. Seemingly satisfied with whatever that had been about, Angel moved on to Sam. Gunn watched him go, pulling himself up off of the ground.

‘Maybe, you were right.’ Giles said, turning to Cas.

Cas nodded in agreement, Giles was an enigma to everyone around him, but Cas understood him well. They were both ‘Watchers’ after all. ‘They need to work it out soon.’ Cas replied.

Buffy noticed the exchange between Angel and Gunn while sparing with Robin, landing an accidental blow to his ribs with her inattention. Thankfully, she was able to pull most of the punch, but Robin was human, recovering, and she had hurt him. He begged off and she apologized as he went to sit down. In her periphery she saw Angel take on Sam and would have liked to watch the exchange between them, but Jody approached her with two of the pillow-ended staffs and tossed one to her.

What ensued was a damn good workout.

Buffy hauled in a breath and exclaimed, ‘You, are in incredible shape! I hope I am this amazing at your age!’ she gushed, blocking the overhead blow Jody leveled at her. The woman should be just as exhausted as the others, but she wasn’t. It was impressive. Buffy countered the next blow and kept the action going between them.

Across the playground, Sam taunted Angel maniacally, ‘Is that all you’ve got, old man?’

Buffy heard and thought, ‘That can only end badly for Sam.’

Locked in a serious ‘baton’ battle, Angel used his Vampire speed to straight arm Sam, knocking him on his ass. Startled Sam lay on the ground blinking up at the huge Vampire. Angel, realizing he was being too aggressive, quirked his mouth in apology and helped Sam up.

‘Yep.’ Buffy laughed to herself, blocking Jody again.

They shook and Angel handed the foam-covered baton Sam had dropped back to him and they fought in a more Gentlemanly fashion until Sam ran out of breath, bent over, hands on his knees gasping for air.

‘You’re a good fighter.’ Angel offered, ‘Need some water?’

Sam shook his head and waved Angel off with a grinning reply, ‘Likewise.’

Conner, Dean and Spike were having a real go at each other until Conner, distracted by Angel and Sam, lost focus. Dean hit him in the guts with the baton and the kid went down. Dean had to admit the kid could hold his own. ‘In a few years, he won’t make mistakes like that.’ The Hunter thought.

Across the yard, Xander and Willow hugged it out and collapsed in a heap next to Oz and Gunn to watch the Slayers, Hunters, and Vampires battle it out. Conner sat with them and Patience joined as well. Alex, Robin, Kennedy, Rona, and Vi sat together on the opposite side of the playground, sharing a bottle of water, watching the vigorous sparing. Cas was encouraged by the mingling and conversation happening in the groups as they watched. It was evident the three groups were no longer feeling the separation. With luck, ‘the adults’ would take notice as well.

The moment Connor was clear, Spike drew his focus to a pinpoint and settled in getting down to business. Keeping in mind he wasn’t out for blood, more of a good workout, he proceeded accordingly and hoped his opponent, ‘Whoa! The bloody…’ he swore, catching the padded staff Dean swung full force at his head, yanking it from the Hunters grasp. Spike reversed the staff and Dean got an arm up in time to keep from getting cracked in the head. Spike had ‘pulled’ the swing of what would have been a killing blow in any other situation.

Dean, not realizing Spike ‘pulled’ the blow, smiled in challenge and charged.

Spike easily sidestepped the Hunter.

Dean, expecting the move, slid intending to take Spike’s legs out, but Spike wasn’t there when he arrived. Spinning, to reverse his position, Spike stood above him, not moving until he came to a stop. After a beat, the Vampire employed sportsmanship and offered him a hand up. Dean considered taking it, but decided against it and instead, bounced to his feet.

Spike pulled a smirking, know it all grin at his opponent, hand still extended.

‘I like this bloke. A lot!’ he decided. ‘No one to be trifled with.’

Dean reached out to shake, but Spike saw the challenging glint in his eyes and was ready for it when Dean attempted to throw him over of his shoulder. In this moment both of them learned what they were hoping to learn about the other.

Dean isn’t a quitter and Spike might be reformed but he wasn’t a punk ass bitch.

Spike reached to help Dean up again.

The others, stopped chatting long enough to see what would happen next. 

This time, Dean took the hand offered to him.

Xander and Willow went back to talking about the impossibility of Miranda and what an adventure the next several years were going to be. Willow was excited and a little nervous to learn all there was to ‘learn about a new solar system.’ Xander agreed because, ‘Sure, we don’t have anything else to do, I guess.’

Spike and Dean shook hands and would have said ‘good game’ but Angel and Sam approached. Sam, grimaced at his brother and inclined his head, indicating he should pay attention to the women still sparing. 

Buffy, taking Jody’s measure, had been on defense for most of the ‘fight.’ Feeling sure the woman knew this, she stopped blocking Jody’s shots and switched to offense, attacking. Even though they had been fighting for what would have been several ‘rounds’ Jody, hung tough and Buffy was duly impressed by the woman’s abilities and endurance.

Claire, still fighting with Faith took notice when Buffy began to attack her mother with quick, efficient blows. Rage replaced her resolve to outlast Faith and she launched herself at Faith in attempt to make quick work of her opponent, then go to her mother. Faith knew it was coming. Had in fact expected it, the moment B began to attack. Claire confirmed her intentions when her eyes flicked to her mother, struggling to fend off B’s attack. Faith grinned and knocked Claire flat on her ass.

Claire laying in the grass, groaning, drew Jody’s attention and Buffy swept the woman’s legs with the staff, finishing the move with a mock killing blow. Jody gave the signal for surrender and Buffy immediately dropped the staff. Smiling, she extended a hand to help Jody up.

Faith stalked over to Claire and hauled the scowling Hunter off of the ground. ‘Never take your eye off of your opponent, little sis.’ She taunted, setting the girl on her feet.

Alex from the sidelines said to Kennedy, ‘That girl is a hard case.’

Patience concurred with a shake of her head, ‘She never learns.’

Alex looked at Willow and changed the subject back to the previous conversation, ‘It’s awful about all of these people though.’

Patience chimed in, ‘Well, I’m not sure I believe it all.’

Giles leaned forward to speak around Cas, ‘I can assure you it’s completely true.’

‘Mmmm…’ Patience answered, noncommittally.

‘That was invigorating.’ Jody said, as she walked with Buffy to sit on the sidelines.

‘I’m going to be sore tomorrow; you can believe it. Show me your workout routine?’ Buffy asked.

‘That was fun.’ Dean exclaimed, cutting in.

‘Agreed.’ Spike smiled, and said, ‘Drink?’

‘Absolutely!’ Dean answered.

‘Are you okay?’ Angel asked Claire.

‘Fine.’ Claire scowled.

‘Well, we'll all sleep well tonight. I’m headed back.’ Giles announced.

‘I'll walk with you.’ Jody said, joining him.

‘I'll come with you.’ Claire offered.

‘No.’ Jody denied her, insisting pointedly, ‘Stay and make friends.’ Turning away from her daughter, she joined Giles. Extending his hand, she took it. Giles looped the hand over and through his arm. Everyone in the park stared after them curiously.

When they were on the other side of the gate, Xander incredulous barked, ‘Huh?’

‘Gross…’ Patience whispered. Everyone turned to look at her. She blushed.

‘So, did someone say something about booze?’ Faith prompted.

Cue the subject change.

Spike echoed Giles and Buffy followed through, looping her arm through his.

‘Penthouse in an hour then?’ he asked Faith.

Faith nodded, ‘See you then.’

As they walked home, Spike explained that while the evening was meant to be fun, it also served the purpose of ‘getting to know’ their new neighbors as well as an exercise in trust. ‘We can expect Faith to bring Angel, Giles, Jody, Sam and Dean with her this evening.’ He finished.

‘So, would you call the evening a success?’ she asked, ‘Because I would.’

‘We’ll know soon enough, Luv.’ He replied.


	38. Thirty-Eight

**Thirty-Eight**


	39. Thirty-Nine

**Thirty-Nine**


	40. Forty

**Forty**


	41. Forty-One

**Forty-One**

**One Month Later**


	42. Forty-Two

**Forty-Two**


	43. Forty-Three

**Forty-Three**


	44. Forty-Four

Forty-Four


	45. Forty-Five

**Forty-Five**


	46. Forty-Six

**Forty-Six**


	47. Forty-Seven

**Forty-Seven**


	48. Forty-Eight

**Forty-Eight**


	49. Forty-Nine

**Forty-Nine**


	50. Fifty

**Fifty**


	51. Fifty-One

**Fifty-One**


	52. Fifty-Two

**Fifty-Two**


	53. Fifty-Three

**Fifty-Three**


	54. Fifty-Four

**Fifty-Four**


	55. Fifty-Five

**Fifty-Five**

**Later That Morning**


	56. Fifty-Six

**Fifty-Six**


	57. Fifty-Seven

**Fifty-Seven**


End file.
